


Røund the Bend

by mythomusicians



Series: Main Mythos Trilogy [1]
Category: Bandom, Panic! at the Disco, Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - Not Human, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Angels, Demons, Gen, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Mythology - Freeform, Tulpas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-16
Updated: 2015-09-19
Packaged: 2018-04-14 23:35:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 43,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4584480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mythomusicians/pseuds/mythomusicians
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tyler is struggling with the dark parts of his thoughts.. he seeks out Dallon for advice, and instead gets Brendon, and they find themselves in an incredibly unusual predicament he never would have dreamt possible.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> Tyler's mornings have gotten increasingly worse, and he wants to get his pep back.  
> We find that one of our favorite band members might not be as human as he appears...

It wasn’t a good morning for Tyler. He sat on the edge of his hotel bed, head hanging low and his favorite black hoodie covering most of his face. He was struggling with his darkest thoughts, he felt like he was Atlas and he had the pressure of the World on his shoulders.  He battled himself. This was just another concert, just another repeat, right? Then why was he so emotional? Why was it getting harder every day to drag himself out of bed, to answer the questions the interviewers had for him? Josh had been doing a lot of talking lately, he noticed. Not necessarily because he had wanted to, but because Josh knew Tyler was struggling. He was tired. His brain was tired. His heart was tired. And his body, that was especially tired. But that, at least, could be fixed with some Redbull. They were opening for Panic! at the Disco, and he thought that maybe Dallon might be able to help him get his energy back. Sure, Brendon had been touring for longer, but he felt Dallon and he might be more in tune with what would help him to relax. He got up, feeling more fed up with himself than anything at this point, and left Josh to wake himself up and went looking for Dallon’s hotel room. _306.. 306.._ he found it, and he knocked. Unfortunately, Dallon went out for a mid-morning jog, as Brendon would later explain, and so it was the singer who opened the hotel door and let the tortured Tyler inside. Brendon was hardly awake at this hour, much preferring to stay asleep as long as he could before shows, but since it looked like something was definitely troubling Tyler, he fought off the urge to continue sleeping.

“Dude, you look grim.”  
Not exactly the cheering-up words that Tyler wanted to hear, honestly. He gave a small shrug and took a seat on one of the hotel beds. “Pre-concert jitters, I guess.”  
Brendon took a seat beside him, inexperienced with ‘helping’ people. He usually left that sort of stuff to Dallon, but he figured that he shouldn’t just let him sit there looking all depressed and nervous, so he mentally sighed. “Everyone gets them, it’s nothing to worry about.”  
Tyler gave him a look. Talking to Brendon wasn’t really helping at all. He started to get up, “I think maybe I should come back later.”  
“Wait, no, my bad. Sorry.” Brendon outwardly sighed this time. “Is it something I can help with?”  
Tyler knew that the other man was trying to help, but he was going about it in pretty much every wrong way. He hesitated for a moment before shrugging again and tugging the hoodie around himself a bit tighter, in the way someone would hold to a security blanket. “It’s, uh, Blurry.” Tyler felt odd speaking that aloud but it was the only way he could really communicate the emotional state he was in. Sure Blurryface was just ‘a concept’ or ‘creative marketing’ or whatever they wanted to call it, but calling his fears by a name helped him to get it under control for a while, until recently anyway.

“What about it?” Brendon didn’t really want to admit he hadn’t yet listened through the entirety of the twenty one pilots discography so he hardly understood what that meant exactly.

Tyler gave a short sigh, wishing that just saying that would make him understand and have Brendon give him a magical fix, but that, of course, could never be the case. “Getting up to perform every night, it’s, uh, getting a lot more difficult for me to do.”

“Well you enjoy performing don’t you? Isn’t that enough?” Tyler wavered again. Yes, that _should_ be enough, but it wasn’t. There was that voice in his mind telling him about all the bad things that could happen during one concert, even one song or one transition between songs. Seeing Tyler not answering, lost in his mind, Brendon frowned in thought, _what would Dallon do?_ After a few moments of quiet, he finally came to a decision. “I want to help.” Tyler looked at him again, a bit confused by the outburst. Isn’t that what he was trying to do from the beginning? “I can help, really!” Brendon insisted, a grin coming across his face. “I’m a demon!”

“A what?” He must be trying to screw with him or something. Make him laugh to get his mind off of his anxieties.  
“A demon!” He laughed, “I can help get rid of Blurry from inside you.” Tyler gave him another look of confusion, causing Brendon to sigh again. “Really, I am. With your permission I can possess you and--”  
“Wait wait, stop.” Tyler put a hand to his head, trying to work through what Brendon was saying. “If it is true, and I’m not saying that it is, why would you just come out and say that? Wouldn’t you want to keep that a secret?” Brendon just shrugged with a grin in response, causing Tyler to sigh loudly.  
“I can help you look at it in a New Perspective--” Brendon paused with a sly smile, waiting to see if Tyler caught his joke.  Unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears, so he frowned _\--Dallon would have gotten it--_ and continued. “--A new perspective, and figure out a different way to ‘fight’ this thing out of you.”  
Tyler gave it a long thought. This couldn’t be true, there aren’t things like demons that walk the Earth. But, at this point, what did he really have to lose? He wasn’t going to get any closer to being rid of Blurry, his fears, by not being open to suggestions, even inane ones. And if Brendon was just joking with him, he’d laugh it off and just wait until Dallon came back so he could get actual help from someone he felt understood compassion a little better. After a little while, Tyler nodded. “What does, uh, the possession involve?”  
Brendon’s grin grew wider at hearing Tyler become interested in his offer. “It won’t hurt you, or at least it shouldn’t. It’s like watching from the outside or something. Well, that’s what I’ve heard someone explain it as. You’ll still be you, you’ll see what’s going on and whatever, but you just won’t be able to control yourself.”  
That didn’t really sound all that appealing, honestly. Watching himself do things and say things that were beyond his physical control? Tyler supposed he could trust Brendon though. “If you help, can you, er, ‘unpossess’ me when you’re done?”  
“Yeah, man, no problem. I can do that for you.” His grin stayed as if it were glued to his face. The thought of being able to have some fun like this again excited him. If Dallon weren’t otherwise occupied, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to do this, so he wanted to seize this chance as quick as he could. “So is that a yes?”

After another moment of thought, Tyler gave another nod. Brendon looked at the clock, figuring he had about twenty more minutes before Dallon returned and he had to be back to normal. That should be enough time to fight off that Blurryface thing, right? He looked back at Tyler and grabbed his shoulders, keeping him steady so he wouldn’t back out now that he’s accepted. _Kind of like my own personal contract,_ he thought.

Tyler didn’t seem to feel or notice anything out of the ordinary. With a while of apparent nothingness, he got worried that Brendon was just screwing with him after all, but suddenly he started to see his vision changing to darkness, as if he were sedated. Before his vision went completely black, he saw a faint purple smoke surrounding Brendon, and what he swore for a moment were two very dark ram horns, barely visible, but there. A strange sensation filled him as he lost all sight. He’d passed out before, and he certainly never had this much lucidity between fainting and waking. He wasn’t asleep, he noted, he was certainly awake, definitely conscious. After a few moments, he could see. It wasn’t quite like literal vision, in fact, it was extremely difficult to describe. He was in the middle of a desert, next to a lush oasis, but it wasn’t hot. It wasn’t cold. It was actually relatively temperature-less. He looked down and he saw his body, he even felt his movements, only it was certainly in his mind’s eye. Not at all corporeal, not his real, physical body.

“Hey,” Tyler jumped at the voice from behind him. He turned around. It felt weird. In front of him stood Brendon... _I think?_ That is, it was definitely Brendon, but it looked all wrong. His face was more chiseled, his skin ashier, and his eyes were definitely not the same color as they were before. The real difference, however, was not his golden eyes or his greyer skintone, but the two seemingly enormous ram horns protruding from either side of his head. He looked the opposite of how Tyler felt in that moment; perfectly composed, even happy. “Nice place you got here, dude.” Tyler gave him his best look of incredulousness, “Didn’t know I had anything to begin with-- am I.. dreaming? Or..?”

Brendon shook his head, giving a toothy grin. “No way, bro, this is your brain! Your mind space! That place you go to when you’ve got nowhere else to go!”

“I wasn’t aware that it was... like, real.” Tyler looked around at the sands and the water. It was beautiful, but it was off. Like a dream, indeed.

Brendon beamed. “Sure is! Anyway, have fun exploring, we don’t have a ton of time, so I’m gonna go find a way to fix you up.” He turned and started to walk away, fading into nothingness, and leaving Tyler totally alone.

Tyler noticed something in the landscape was off, but at first he couldn’t figure out what. He was a little preoccupied with the reality of the situation. He found a soft spot of sand by the water and sat in his usual way when he needed to compose himself. It seemed like he had been there for an hour and his thoughts wandered, wondering if time moved here like it does in dreams, if he’d be there for what felt like days when really it would only be a few minutes. He remembered Brendon saying that he’d see what was going on outside. If that were true, all he got was darkness. _I must be sleeping, then, I suppose. At least I really hope so._

After a long while, it occurred to Tyler that.. something still wasn’t quite right. Even though he’d sat and thought for what felt like forever, he wasn’t freaking out. He wasn’t morose, melancholy, or the least bit anxious. That... wasn’t right. If Brendon had fixed all of that, wouldn’t he have come back? Tyler got up to explore, thinking maybe he’d figure out where Brendon had gone if he retraced his steps. But as he looked around, it seemed the whole oasis had shifted, that the plants and the sand dunes weren’t in quite the same places as before. _Great._ He looked around again for anywhere someone could go. He saw just a ways off what looked like a small hut, and he thought, _might as well check there first._

The walk to the hut took a lot less time than he had estimated. _Dreams, man._ As he neared it, he thought he heard some rustling coming from within. He came slowly to the entrance and peered inside.

_Is that... me?_


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone is in the hut?  
> Tyler tries to handle things himself, but Brendon has other plans

There was a small bed inside, and sitting on the edge in the very pose he’d been in that morning was someone who looked just like he did. Not wanting to stare, he decided it best he spoke up. “Excuse me, ... who are you?”

He spoke without looking up. “Just... leave me here. Please.”

Tyler was dumbfounded. Is this what he sounded like? Was this just some mirage? He figured, _if anything, talking to him will give me something to do._ He spoke up again. “No one should be left alone... You look rough.”

The other person looked up at last, meeting Tyler eye to eye for barely a moment before covering his face with his hoodie and avoiding eye contact entirely.

“Who... who are you?” Tyler asked. All he saw was a flash of something familiar, but strange. He could have sworn he looked in a mirror. But his eyes were bright red. He thought, maybe... But he needed confirmation.

“Who cares...?”

If Tyler was right... compassion was necessary. Understanding. Empathy. Some of the things he valued most. “You do. I do. Please, tell me your name.”

The other Tyler looked down. “You named me.”

Tyler hesitated. _But.. How?_ “...Blurryface?”

“Just.. just Blurry, please.” he sighed and retreated into himself slightly. “What.. what are you doing here..?”

Tyler thought of how to answer this sensitively. _Well we’re here to get rid of you..._ he thought. “I... well, Brendon and I.. we’re..”

“Don’t tell me. I get it. You want me gone.”

“I wouldn’t put it that way.. I-- I didn’t know you were... you. Dude, I didn’t know that this was possible until like, three hours ago.”  
“--It’s been five minutes.”  
“You see?” Tyler paused. “Can I at least sit down..?”

Blurry scooted over in offering. As Tyler sat and thanked him, he looked him in the eye. “I... don’t want to disappear.” _Please_ , he thought, _I want to live. Don’t let today be my last._ Tyler sighed. If Blurry was real, then who was he really? By himself? He suddenly didn’t know what about him was Blurry and what was himself. Where, in reality, did he end and Blurryface, his own creation, begin? When did sorrow turn into depression? Where did that line get drawn? They sat in silence for a small while, and it occurred to him that it probably was Blurry’s normal state. He thought back to where his mind would wander when all was quiet. It was rarely a good thing. He thought about the songs he wrote, the dark places they came from, and how those times inspired him to keep going. He literally wrote music about not ending your life. After a small while, he replied. “I won’t let you.”

Part of Blurry told himself that it was just a lie and that Brendon was probably waiting for them outside, ready to destroy him. Actually, most of himself was saying that. He stayed quiet, unsure what to say. Should he call him out on his lie? What if he wasn’t lying? He had come here with the intent to get rid of him, so why would he think differently now when nothing had changed? Blurry pulled his hoodie’s sleeves over his darkened hands, trying to keep himself occupied as he thought of some sort of response. After fiddling around with his sleeves for a while he finally managed a quiet, “You don’t need to lie to me.”  
“I’m not lying.” Tyler insisted, but he knew his endeavours would end up fruitless. Blurry was stuck in his own mindset, one that he himself was very familiar with. It’s not easy, nearly impossible, to shake those feelings of doubt once your mind grabs onto them.

Again, they sat in silence. It didn’t feel like long before Tyler had heard footsteps outside, and he figured that must be Brendon. “See, I’ll tell him I have it under control.” He got up and went to leave the hut to talk to the demon, leaving Blurry sitting alone once more. A thought crossed his mind to follow after Tyler, to make sure that he wasn’t lying, but he decided against it, deeming the idea useless, and went back into his thoughts.

“Have fun wandering?” Brendon asked when he saw Tyler. He looked over at the hut suspiciously, wondering what was there.   
“I, uh, I think I can handle it on my own.”  
“You what?” The demon’s voice was flat, “Is it making you think this?”  
“What? No, I’m saying it for myself. We don’t need to fight it, I just have to understand him-”  
“You’re going back on our contract?”  
“...Excuse me?” Tyler looked at him quizzically. _Contract? What contract?_

“We had an agreement, that I would get rid of your fears and anxieties for you. We had a deal.” He frowned, looking more pointedly towards the hut. Brendon headed towards it, but was stopped by Tyler grabbing his wrist.  
“I told you I have it under control.” He said to him, looking a bit worriedly towards where Blurry was still sitting. _I’m not going to let you disappear._ This made Brendon annoyed, angered, and he shook Tyler’s hand off of him with ease as he went straight for the hut. _What's wrong with him?_ Tyler quickly followed after him as he tried to get him to turn around and leave Blurry alone.

The sound of angry footsteps towards him caused Blurry to jump. He peered from under his hood over at the demon, then hung his head again, in a sort of fetal position. He knew what fate had in store for him. He knew Tyler was lying. Everyone lies. He was wrong to have had even a sliver of hope. No sooner than he had given up, had he felt someone grab his neck and hoist him up in the air off the bed.

“This is it?” Brendon asked towards Tyler, easily holding the man in the air with one hand, already knowing the answer. Blurry’s hands tried prying Brendon’s away from his neck, struggling desperately out of survival before he gave in and accepted what was to come. When Tyler saw Blurry’s body give up, he looked around desperately for something to use to get Brendon to let go. Not finding anything in the hut aside from the bed, Tyler had no choice but to use himself, as he tried to get between Brendon and Blurry and force him to let go.

“Brendon, stop this!” He begged, but his strength was absolutely no match for the demon’s.

“This is what you asked me to help you with,” he smirked. He was practically laughing. “And now you want to turn back? You can’t just turn back on a deal!” he yelled.  As he had said this, Brendon’s grip on Blurry just grew tighter.

“I said stop!” Tyler yelled out, and as he continued to try and get his hands off, there was suddenly a blinding flash that came from seemingly nowhere.

When Tyler could finally see again, he saw he was in Brendon’s hotel room, lying on the bed. He looked around in confusion, wondering what had just happened. He gave it little thought, and dismissed it as a very strange dream. As he looked over towards the clock he realized it had only been about fifteen minutes since he had came to the room. _Where did Brendon go..?_ It wasn’t like him to leave someone else alone with his stuff. As he sat up, Tyler felt a piercing migraine, which caused him just to end up laying down again.  He took several deep breaths to try and soothe the headache, but it was to no avail. Pain pounded throughout his entire mind, and he could barely focus on anything. It felt like excruciating ages before he heard something beep, and he managed to sit up and look towards the door in time to see Dallon entering the hotel room, back from his workout. He set the room card key and bottle of water he’d had on the table beside the television and looked around, looking for Brendon, but instead finding Tyler.

“Oh, hello.” He said, more than a little confused as to why he was here. Tyler nodded in response, soon regretting that decision as his headache pounded again.

“Sorry, uh, Brendon let me in.” Tyler finally said after his headache settled a bit again.

“No no, that’s fine. Ah, is there anything I can help you with?” Dallon asked, noticing Tyler seemed more than a little out of sorts.

“Yes, no. Um. I’m not sure.” Tyler rubbed his temple, trying to get his thoughts straight. “I fell asleep.” Dallon raised an eyebrow questioningly, hoping he’d expand on that thought a little more. “I don’t remember falling asleep. I guess I kind of passed out.” Dallon frowned in response and looked around again.

“Is Brendon around?”  
Tyler shook his head, unsurely. “I… I’m not sure. I think so. He probably took off after I passed out. I was having.. a rough morning. Emotionally.”

Putting pieces together, a million curses flew through Dallon’s head, none that he would say, and he sat down beside Tyler. “Did Brendon, uh, offer you help?” The other man nodded. Make that a million and one. “Okay.” He said this more to reassure himself rather than Tyler. He held his head in his hands in frustration for just a moment. He had let him out of his sight for not even half an hour and he got himself into trouble. “Is he still there?” Dallon prompted, hoping that would make Brendon come forward, if not out of Tyler completely. At that thought however, Dallon froze. Tyler was still himself. He wasn’t acting like Brendon, as he would be if Brendon had really possessed him. Sure Brendon could give up control, but he was hardly the type of person that would give up anything. Dallon had a feeling in his gut that something was just not right.

“You mean... I thought it was a dream...” After a moment of silence, he asked meekly, “Do you know how to get him out?”  
Dallon wavered with an answer. He could get him out, yes, but it would be extremely painful for a human such as Tyler to have a demon forcibly ripped out of him. “I need you to talk to him. Or get him to talk through you.”  
“What’s going on?” Tyler was lost. It was like everyone else was in on some big secret but him. So, Dallon obviously seemed to know that Brendon wasn’t exactly human. Which, he supposed, made sense seeing as they were in a band together, and there aren’t really secrets between band mates.

“You asked Brendon for help, right? And he told you he could?”

Tyler’s memory sparked. “Yeah, he said he was a demon. I didn’t.. I didn’t think that was possible.”

“I don’t blame you. Not one bit. But you agreed, and you verbally entered a contract with him. But something’s wrong, and I don’t know what.”

Tyler grew concerned. If even Dallon knew something was off just from this conversation.. It had to be bad. “I don’t get it.. What does that mean for me?” He asked, still fighting his migraine.

“It means, I’m not talking to Brendon right now, and he’s still in your head. Brendon doesn’t just let his host have control before he’s done. Something’s wrong. He’s stuck, or worse, I don’t know.”

“How do I get him out?” He was fighting between panic and pain. If he could get Brendon out, he thought, the headache would end and he could focus on Blurry alone, if he was even still alive.  
“If he doesn’t want to, or.. or can’t come out on his own, you have to visit him. Go into your mind and find him.” Tyler furrowed his brow in confusion. Seeing this, Dallon took a deep breath. “You need to clear your mind. A sort of meditative state.” Tyler nodded, found a more comfortable position on the bed, and tried to calm his thoughts, but the worry of what was going on inside his mind, the confusion and the thousand questions he had, and the pain from the migraine prevented him from relaxing.

Dallon didn’t want to interfere. It was bad enough that Brendon was going around telling everyone that he was a demon _and calling his fans sinners? how original_ but that didn’t mean that he should be going around doing the same thing and using his abilities to help people. But, this was a special case. He sighed apprehensively. “Just... relax.” Dallon lightly put a hand against Tyler’s forehead, very gently pushing him to lay down on the bed once again. Tyler felt his eyes close as a sort of warmth came from Dallon’s hand. It was soothing and calming, and it made it easy for him to start to relax.

“What..-” Tyler asked, sounding a lot more drowsy than he thought he was. As he ended up falling asleep once again, the warmth from Dallon’s hand stayed.

Once he’d opened his eyes, he was back in that strange oasis. His ‘mind space’. But when it came to looking for Brendon, and Blurry, nothing was to be seen. In fact, the place looked like it had seen a war. The hut wasn’t even there, or at least it wasn’t standing. Had Brendon destroyed it? Destroyed Blurry? Himself? Feeling more than a little hopeless, he decided to search around to try and find either of them. He walked through trampled and burned leaves, pieces of a broken hut, hoping to find some sign of either of them. Some sign that Blurry was alive. He walked a ways by the water and scanned the area for something, anything the wrong color for the desert. Luckily, it wasn’t too hard to spot the black hoodie of a man weakly slumped against a wimpy looking tree, and Tyler hurried over. “Blurry?” At hearing his name, the man shrunk and cringed, then looked up at him from beneath the hood. Tyler breathed a sigh of relief that he was alive, that he hadn’t failed, and sat down beside him, but this time Blurry shifted slightly away from him.

“Are you okay?” he asked quietly, gently. Blurry hugged his knees to his chest for a little while before finally mustering the courage to take off his hood. On his once blackened neck, it was now bruised nearly all around, a sickening shade of dark purple. Even the hoodie itself looked like it was beaten and battered, ripped and torn in a few places. Tyler thought he might throw up. Brendon really had had a tight grasp on him, hadn’t he? He could have literally killed him.. “Blurry, I… I’m sorry.” He managed to say after taking it all in. “I never meant.. I couldn’t have known...” Blurry lifted the hood back up and turned his face away from Tyler, his body turning slightly.

“It… could be… worse.” Blurry said, his voice definitely affected by the bruising around his neck. It was as if he were struggling to speak. Tyler gave a heavy sigh. His actions almost cost a man his life. And this man was as much who he was as Tyler was who he was. They were intrinsic parts of each other. He started to feel the weight of what his own lyrics could mean. _Sometimes to save your life you’ve got to kill your mind.. No. Not this time._ He shook his head silently. “Blurry... I know I might be the last, er, second to last person you trust right now, but--”

Blurry interjected. “But... you need... my cooperation? So you can... play your games.. and take me out... once and for all..? Be the man.. you wanted to be..?” His speech was pained, his throat was throbbing, and he was angry. But he couldn’t find it in him to be truly mad at his counterpart. He was a burden, and he knew it. He had nothing to offer. Nothing good, anyway. He only ever brought Tyler misery and frustration, anxiety, and a plethora of other negative feelings. He only ever overcomplicated things. Tyler was right to want to eliminate him. Who would want to deal with those feelings?

Tyler frowned. “Dude.. no, I..” He sighed. “I just wanted to.. not be weighed down anymore... I didn’t know you were your own person, let alone that any of this demon stuff was possible. I just thought maybe Brendon knew a quick fix in the brain, like a switch or something. I didn’t...” he paused and recomposed himself. “Blurry. Please look at me. Turn around or something, I don’t know.”

Blurry had been listening intently. Tyler.. didn’t know? Maybe this really was a misunderstanding on his part.. He turned around, lowering his hood and giving Tyler his full attention. His expression was pained, hurt, broken. He coughed harshly, his windpipe having been pretty crushed. He took a shuddering breath. “I’m.. I’m listening.”

Tyler took a long look at Blurry. The bruising was obvious, but there had to be some internal damage. He was in pain. A lot of pain. It still unnerved him, that he was talking with himself. That he was facing someone who looked exactly like him, and exactly like he had imagined him. He had portrayed him. Blurry was his creation. His red eyed twin. “Blurry, I don’t want to hurt you. You’re part of who I am. I’m part of who you are. We’re.. we’re just two halves of an imperfect whole. I want to help you. I.. I didn’t know any of this would happen. I wouldn’t have wanted any of this, if I knew it existed. I’m.. truly, I’m sorry. This is all my fault.”

His fault? Blurry was.. confused. _No, this is my fault. Isn’t that obvious? I ruined everything._ He wanted to speak, but the pain was too much. Instead, he wrote in the sand with his finger. “I’m sorry.” He looked up at Tyler briefly, apologetically, and then back down at his hands and had nothing more to say.

Tyler felt he understood what Blurry meant. It wasn’t his fault, but it wasn’t the time to argue with an injured man. “Dallon said something was wrong, that he needs to talk to Brendon..”

Blurry wrote in the sand again. “I saw.”

_Right... I was awake, Blurry could see.. But where’s Brendon?_

Tyler looked around, trying to find sight of where Brendon could have went off to. After what felt like ages, he finally saw those horns in the distance. Just as he’d seen Brendon, the demon too had found him, and Blurry. Within seconds Brendon was right in front of them, looking a mixture of angry and slightly confused. He shot Tyler a particular glance of accusation. “What did you do?”  
“What do you mean?”  
“Why can’t I leave?” Brendon asked hardly, almost panicked. “I can’t leave. I can’t get out. What did you do? What was that light?”  
“I… I don’t know.” Tyler admitted. _He can’t leave? No, no no no no. That’s not right._ “Dallon says that he needs to talk to you-”  
“Dallon’s back?” He froze at his name, eyes widening. Dallon’s gonna be so fuckin’ pissed. “You have to let me go.”  
“I don’t know how.”  
Brendon groaned, clearly unhappy with the situation. “I can’t be stuck in here! Dude, we have a show to play tonight.”

It hadn’t occurred to Tyler that this would affect the evening performances. No Brendon? And a Tyler in disarray? He wanted to cuss.

Blurry stood up, a bit shaky. “Where are you going?” Brendon spat.

“You need… to leave.”

“What do you think I’m trying to fucking do?” Brendon hissed, clearly more than a little pissed off with Blurry. He cringed at Brendon’s answer but stood his ground nonetheless. “If you have a bright idea why don’t you share it?” the demon asked, his tone more than accusatory.  
At being put on the spot like that, Blurry hesitated and retreated, sitting back down, choosing to ignore Brendon. He’d had enough from him today.

“Alright, arguing isn’t going to fix this mess. Dallon says he can fix this, I think.” Tyler tried to remain level headed. “So we just have to figure out how to get in touch with him.”

No sooner did he say that, there was another flash of blinding light, and no one had time to react before it engulfed them once again.

Waking up again was strange. He felt a warmth on his forehead, which caused him to reel back quickly, knocking the back of his (already aching) head against the headboard. As he looked around, confused and in pain, he felt his stomach take a dive. He’s out. He’s here.

“Tyler?” A voice asked, snapping him from his thoughts. He looked at the man sitting beside him. His breath faltered. “...Brendon?”

He stuttered. “B...Blurry.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blurry converses with Dallon, who knows he can help, but isn't exactly sure how to go about it.  
> Dallon reveals the truth about himself.

Dallon sat quietly for a minute, trying to process what that meant exactly. Blurry. As in blurryface? That thing that Tyler sang about in some of his songs? His personified fears? He bit his lip in thought, wondering how he should go about this. Blurryface was probably more sensitive to emotions and other such things than Brendon or Tyler would be. He had to be careful about what he said or he might take it the wrong way.

"How am I..-" Blurry looked around through Tyler's eyes, trying to take it all in. He'd never been out in 'the real world'. He’d always just been stuck in Tyler's mind, influencing him from the inside. This was new. Different. More than a little scary. He could breathe fine now, as opposed to how battered up he was earlier. He took a few deep breaths, savoring the feeling of air reaching his lungs without pain. Experiencing temperature was a first. He looked at the man next to him. What was his name? _Dallon._ he thought. _He was the one Tyler said could help..._

“...Dallon?”

Dallon’s face was both amused and concerned. “I’m afraid you might know me far better than I know you.”

Blurry hesitated. At the very least, he felt comforted by this man’s presence for some reason. He wasn’t too afraid to speak. Still, he hated introductions. “I’m.. I’m Blurry. Er, Blurryface, I guess, but I just.. go by Blurry.. You- Tyler said you could help?”

 _At least Tyler’s aware of Blurry. This could have been a lot messier._ Dallon sighed. “I can, maybe. I’m not sure. At the very least, I know this can be resolved. I don’t think it will be pleasant for any of you.” Dallon saw Blurry’s silent contemplation.

On the inside, after the flash, Tyler and Brendon found themselves in some kind of empty auditorium. It was relatively dark at first, but the darkness was broken as some kind of projection appeared on a screen in front of them.

“What’s...-”

“It’s how we’re going to see what Blurry does. You don’t need a visual, but I do, and your brain is compensating.”

Tyler got stuck on ‘what Blurry does.’ “Blurry? He’s.. he’s in control? Alone?”

“Well it’s not me and it’s not you. And someone just woke up.”

Brendon seemed totally blasé about the situation, and honestly, that grated Tyler’s nerves. Why couldn’t he see Blurry was alive? He was literally living and breathing and in control of Tyler’s physical body. He swallowed his argument and watched nervously.

Blurry took a moment to think. “How can- How can you help?”

“That.. largely depends on the situation.”

“I’m.. I’m honestly not sure what it is. I just.. I almost died, and-”

Dallon lost all lightheartedness. “Brendon tried to _kill_ you?”

“I mean, I’m not really, you know, real, so-”

Dallon held his shoulders and looked him in the eye. “You. Are. Real. This is my world, Tyler’s world, and you’re here on the outside. I’m guessing.. I’m guessing that’s never happened. Tyler didn’t know about you, did he?”

_No, I didn’t, I’m so sorry.._

Blurry wasn’t used to so much attention. He wasn’t used to any attention. Or being acknowledged. “I.. I need to stand up. I need to walk around a bit..” Dallon nodded and moved so he could get off the bed easily. Blurry stood and went to the hotel sink to rinse his face off. _Cold water... cold is new._ He splashed his face slightly, trying to grasp being in reality, and when he looked up, he saw his reflection. He’d never seen his reflection. He’d never _had_ a reflection. He looked at himself- he obviously looked like Tyler, but it felt wrong. His eyes were brown, and his hands and his neck were plain. It was right, but not completely. All at once, the gravity of the situation hit him like a bus. He shakily made his way back to the bed and sat down. As his breathing rate increased, Dallon grew increasingly concerned. “Blurry-”

“What is any of this? Why is any of this happening?” he practically yelled. “This is wrong, all wrong.” He knew this feeling; the onset of an anxiety attack. His heart was pounding and his breathing increased. He tried to calm down but he couldn’t- he didn’t know how. He’d never been here, he had no outlet, he was with someone he only knew in passing, and there were so many new sensations associated with being in a corporeal form he simply overloaded.

Dallon knew he had to come clean. He knew how to help Blurry but.. it meant explaining everything he hid. He quickly weighed his options; there really was only one choice. He held out his hand and focused. A small white spark grew in his palm and, after a few moments, floated out towards the tortured man. It gravitated towards his heart and disappeared. Blurry opened his eyes, his breathing slowed considerably. “What...?”

Dallon took a deep breath. There wasn’t a lying bone in his body, and there was no way out of this.

“Blurry... Tyler...”

Tyler took notice. _What just.. happened? Why not Brendon? Was Dallon a demon too? That didn’t seem very demonic.._

“I’m an angel. And Brendon’s my assignment.”

::::

Blurry stared, both frightened and confused, trying to work out how this was possible. “An.. Angel? Like, an angel of the Lord?”

Dallon kind of shrugged. “More or less, I suppose. I’m.. a lesser angel. Which is why I’m here. With Brendon.”

“But you’re in a band together... shouldn’t you be fighting? Not working together?” This didn’t make any sense. None.

Dallon made a small sigh. “It worked out, I guess. I liked playing Bass and I needed to keep an eye on him. Befriend him. He is, you know, actually my friend. It took a while, but I won him over. He’s a lesser demon, anyway. Not very good at being bad. I just keep him from doing too much damage.”  
Behind the scenes, Brendon got offended. “I am _so too_ good at being bad! Make him take that back!”

Tyler almost laughed.

“So he knows.. you’re.. an angel?” Blurry asked. Whatever Dallon did cleared his head a bit and got him to feel much more at ease. He was considerably less stressed out.

“Well, we see each other for who we are naturally. Kind of like..” How would he phrase this.. “..an aura. When I look at Brendon, I know what he is without question. And the same goes for him. It’s.. just one of our quirks, I guess..” Dallon almost felt uncomfortable. He’d told extremely few people that he was an angel, having not even told his wife. The only person he ever spoke regularly with about it before had been Brendon, and they usually just made fun of each other. The demon’s insults were always considerably worse. He felt, however, that if this secret were safe with anyone, it was Tyler and Blurry. Tyler was one of the most respectful people he had ever met, and he was betting Blurry wasn’t all that different in the respect department.

“So that’s why you can help...”

“Pretty much. But I’m not willing to try and just go in and pull Brendon out with me. That would be excruciatingly painful.”

 _So was almost dying. And no one was able to stop that._ Blurry thought.

Dallon continued, noticing the pained expression on Blurry’s face. “On top of that.. any forceful kind of pulling him out.. could kill you. Could kill Tyler. Possibly both. It’s not something I’m able to justify.”

Blurry whispered, “I don’t want to disappear...”

_I won’t let you._

Dallon sighed. “I’m not sure where to go from here. I need to talk to Brendon. Or Tyler. And I can’t keep using my powers to make you fall asleep. It’s not good.”

Blurry sharply inhaled, followed by a heavy sigh. “I’m not sure how much I like reality.”

Dallon gave him a soft smile. “I think, with time, you’ll learn to love it. We all have secrets. Yours, Tyler Joseph, is.. you. And I think in time you’ll both be okay with that.”

Dallon referring to Blurry as Tyler Joseph made him feel.. welcome. Something he didn’t often experience, not even from Tyler himself. _I am Tyler,_ he thought, _I’m part of who he is.. The Tyler I know is only half of the whole.._ He smiled softly. “Thank you, Dallon, for everything.”

“Honestly, I could say I’m just doing my job, and I am, but I’m more than happy to help you in any way I can. You’re my friend.” he replied. He stood up. “You know, there’s still time for breakfast. I won’t make you go down there with me, but is there anything you want me to bring back up?”

Blurry accepted his kind gesture. “Just some orange juice I guess.”

“You got it. I’ll be back in a few.”

“Yeah and can you grab me a couple beers?”

Dallon stopped in his tracks. “Sorry?”

“C’mon, big D, hit me up with some early morning alcohol!”

Dallon sighed. “....Brendon.” he turned around to see him. He was in his usual ‘teasing’ pose, but in Tyler’s body it was all so wrong. Not that it was ever ‘right’ in his own body, but at least it was normal for Brendon to pose “like a french girl” as he called it. And wink. “I’m not getting you any alcohol Brendon, you know Tyler doesn’t like to drink.”

“Oh come on I’m thirsty.” he pouted.

“Then you can have the orange juice Blurry wanted. Besides, hasn’t it occurred to you that you have Tyler’s taste buds?”

“Fuck, yeah you’re right. Fine. Just get me some OJ.”

“You see, Brendon, I don’t know if I can trust you to stay put while I go get breakfast. And I certainly can’t bring you with me.”

“Fine, dude, don’t get anything then.” This was getting annoying.

Dallon paced the floor for a few moments. “Brendon, what the heck were you thinking, possessing Tyler the day of a performance? Or at all?”

“I was thinking, O Holy One, that maybe I could help my friend out and get some fun out of it in return? You know, What Would Dallon Weekes Do? and all that bullshit?”

“I hope you’re happy, man.”

“I’m really fucking not, actually. I can’t get out. I can’t break the contract, and on top of that, there’s this weird goddamn white flash of light that keeps getting in my way! So, you know, I’m actually absolutely fucking elated, hotshot! I love being stuck in a body, especially when I have no control over it! You think I asked to be in charge right now? No! I messed up, okay? I fucking messed up, and I’m sorry, but I don’t have any ideas as to how to get out of this mess. So can you please, for your love of God, please help me out here?”

Dallon looked at him. He was practically on his knees. This had never happened before, and he’d done some pretty stupid things when it came to possession. _He really wants help.. He didn’t even ask for anything in return.._ He let out an exasperated sigh. “You’re lucky I’m so nice.”

“No, I’m lucky one of my best friends is an angel, and that he puts up with me being such an ass to him all of the time.”

Dallon smirked. “You’re darn right.”

Brendon rolled his eyes. “Swear more, dammit.”

“Nope.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler tries to regain a sense of normality by hanging out with Josh, but is soon reminded that things aren't normal anymore, as he finds out what exactly Blurry is.

Tyler was trying to process all of the information that he had heard, unsure what to think. An angel and a demon? Any other day, out of the blue, it would sound too farfetched, but after what he'd been through in less than an hour, it was entirely plausible. Either way, he wasn't exactly enjoying all of the swearing Brendon was doing while in control. He didn't like having no control of his own body. Just watching him made him feel uneasy. It felt wrong. The swearing was bad enough, the way Brendon had been making his body act was pretty bad too, but what if he did something worse? Brendon wasn't exactly the most moral of anyone he knew... Which made sense, now that he understood he was a demon. He soon saw Blurry sit down quietly beside him, and Tyler gave him a small smile. "How was it being on the outside like that?"

Blurry looked at him, feeling a bunch of emotions and sure that another panic attack was going to happen, but whatever Dallon had done to him helped to put his mind at ease, for now. Unfortunately, now that he was back, it was painful for him to breathe and speak again, so he gave an unsure shrug as a response. _It was scary, new, but amazing..._ Being able to actually feel things he couldn't before, the weather, seeing himself, it was new to him, but kind of exciting. New was usually scary, but admittedly if this wasn't to be fixed immediately, he wouldn't mind being out in the 'real world' again. To maybe try that orange juice Dallon was going to get him. But, Brendon had pushed him out just when he was starting to get the hang of it all. Blurry frowned and looked at the screen, seeing him chatting with Dallon. That should be him there talking to Dallon, or even Tyler, not Brendon. Brendon was the one who screwed up, so why should he be the one that gets to be out? He bit his lip, trying to hold back the negative emotions he had about Brendon. There was nothing he could do about it now, these emotions would accomplish nothing...

"I need to find a safe way to help you. Nothing that will involve any of you getting hurt or dying." Dallon said, racking his brain to see if he could think of something, anything, that could help. His white magic, while helpful, was rather limited, and harmful towards demons most of the time. So if he did anything wrong then Brendon could easily be hurt just as bad as Tyler and Blurry could be. And even though that demon could be a pain most of the time, he was still his friend and he wouldn't wish that upon him. _Not to mention all of his fans.._

"So that means?" Brendon waited for an answer impatiently, wanting to get to his own body as soon as he could. Hopefully before the show.

"I need to keep thinking. Give me a while to myself, I'll figure it out." There was definitely some sort of magic he could do to fix this all safely, but he needed to take some time to clear his mind and focus on what he learned before being sent down on his mission to watch Brendon; surely there was something that he was taught that could fix this.

"And what am I supposed to do in the meantime?" Brendon huffed, not wanting to sit around in silence and hope Dallon figured something out.

Tyler took note of the time, frowning a bit. _Josh is probably waking up by now..._ How was he going to explain this all to Josh without freaking him out? If he even got to be out again, that is. Brendon could very well be out for a long while, and who knew if he'd even get control of his own body again? His frown deepened, getting more worried as a worst possible scenario hit him: _what if we're stuck like this?_

Blurry looked at Tyler, noticing he was worrying about something. He wanted to help his counterpart, but wasn't sure how he should. He wasn't good for anything but being depressed and paranoid. For making everything worse for Tyler. "It'll... Work out..." Blurry tried his best to sound convincing, but he barely believed his own words, and it didn't quite sound the way he intended. Tyler understood that he was really trying to help, and nodded slightly.

"Yeah, thanks." He tried to sound convincing too, but there was too much uncertainty and doubt to be sure if this is really going to work out and be okay.

"You should head back to Tyler's hotel room. If I can't fix this by the time the show comes around, you might need to learn his set." Dallon said with a frown, "and I'll need to then figure out how I can still get you on stage for our performance too..." There was a lot to do. With only about six hours before they needed to be ready for showtime, he had to get to thinking.

"Fine, fine. Let me know as soon as you figure this out, man." Brendon sighed and stood up. Tyler was only very slightly taller than him, but the change in his muscles made it feel like the biggest difference in the world. It caught him a bit off guard, since just by looking he thought they were the same height. It took him a second to adjust before he got the hang of it and left the hotel room to go back towards 'his own' room.

After a little while of trying to remember which room they were in, Brendon eventually found it.  The room key opened the door and he walked in, wondering what he should do, how he should go about talking to Josh. If it were up to him, he'd just come out and explain everything that happened, but Brendon didn't exactly want to give Tyler another reason to be angry with him. He'd been trying to help him after all, not make his life a living Hell or whatever. Well, not completely. Trying to act like Tyler would probably be his best bet, he assumed. Looking around the room, he thankfully didn't see Josh, but he heard the shower going so he guessed that must be him. Brendon plopped himself down on one of the beds, rather bored already. If he was bored in his own body, he'd probably just hop on Periscope and chat with his fans, but he couldn't exactly do that as Tyler. He didn't even know the stupid lock code for Tyler's phone, so he couldn't even keep himself entertained that way. Glancing around the room again he noticed the Nintendo 64 that Tyler always brought with him hooked up to the hotel television with Mario Kart sitting in it. Brendon didn't really consider himself much of a 'gamer', but seeing as there was literally nothing else to do but die of boredom, he flicked on the console and grabbed a controller.

When Josh left the shower and saw Tyler playing Mario Kart, he decided to hop down beside him and grab another controller. “I’m joining after this race.” He grinned at his friend. Honestly, he was glad to see Tyler returning to things he enjoyed instead of keeping to himself. Josh knew that Tyler had been struggling with some things recently, though he wouldn’t pry to ask what, so seeing him unwind a bit was a total relief to the drummer. Once Yoshi crossed the finish line in second place, Tyler looked over to Josh. He’d ended up being able to switch out again just in time to see Brendon driving backwards on the track and purposely trying to hit every banana that was in the road. Perhaps he was just filled with so much shame that his body let him regain control again. At least Brendon had thought to pick Yoshi.

“I hope you know this means I’m choosing Rainbow Road next.” Tyler said to him with a grin. Josh groaned, but followed up with a laugh as Tyler chose the most dreaded track in the game. He himself wasn’t great at video games, but Josh always put in the effort for Tyler since these things meant a lot to him, and playing with Tyler always made it fun instead of boring.   
“Holy shit, this is so boring.” Brendon sighed, not having the patience to sit down and watch someone else play a video game. He had been having fun screwing around and losing on purpose, but Tyler took over before he could fully enjoy it. Blurry ignored the demon, as he found watching Tyler and Josh play video games to be sort of relaxing in a way. He was used to seeing them play their games together, and right now it was the only thing that felt normal to both Blurry and Tyler; maybe they could just forget that Brendon was even there. Blurry kept an eye on Toad, knowing that Rainbow Road was the drummer’s bane and that his side of the screen would be full of him falling off the track at every turn. But before he knew it, Blurry was the one holding the controller and racing against Josh. He honestly had no idea how to play, that is, he’d seen Tyler play it hundreds of times, but never actually focused on the controls. Blurry fumbled around with the controller long enough to end up losing first place, and by the time he got the main controls figured out, he’d been pushed back to fourth.   
“Everything okay, bro?” Josh asked, not taking his eyes off from the screen just as a red shell smacked Toad and knocked him off the stage.   
It took a moment for Blurry to answer -- _what would Tyler say in this situation?_ \-- but finally said, “You should be asking yourself that.” He gave a small laugh as he regained a spot, putting himself in third. Blurry felt oddly comfortable playing beside Josh, although that may have been due to the fact he was finally away from Brendon for a while, so he didn’t have to watch his back as much. _On the other hand_ , he thought, _Josh is my best friend, too_. Being near someone he knew as well as Josh, even if the drummer didn’t know he wasn’t playing with Tyler, gave him a good amount of comfort.

Tyler wasn’t exactly happy about losing control over himself after only a short time of being there, but there was nothing he could really do besides watch Blurry and his best friend play a game together.

“Why don’t you want me to get rid of him?” Brendon asked him. Tyler could hear just a slight twinge of annoyance coming from his friend.

He sighed. “He’s still me, man. Getting rid of him would be getting rid of something-” he corrected himself, “someone that makes up a large part of who I am. I mean, yeah, it would be nice to not have to deal with my depression and my anxiety..” Tyler kept looking at the screen. “...but even if you got rid of Blurry, there’s no way we could know if it would even solve anything.”

Brendon just rolled his eyes. “You really care if this wimp lives? He’s not even real!”

Tyler suddenly found himself getting defensive. “He’s real. He’s alive. Isn’t the mere fact that we’re here watching him play a game in the _real world_ with my _real friend_ kind of proof?!”

He took a moment to compose himself. “Look. He’s alive. And I’m not about to, one, be accessory to _murder_ , or two, go back on everything I stand for.”

“Fine, I get it, superboy. Truth, justice, and the American way, right? I won’t kill the guy.” Brendon scoffed. He then looked Tyler in the eyes. “But only because you’re my friend.”

Tyler would accept that... for now. He looked on as his other half spent some quality time with Josh. Is this how Blurry lived his life this whole time? Behind the scenes, not ever feeling included, important... Alive? No wonder his natural state was depressed, no wonder he was quiet, frightened, and introspective. He was totally alone with his thoughts, and all his efforts to communicate with him made Tyler see him as bad, like he was bringing him down on purpose. _Maybe Blurry needs as much help as I do._ If he didn’t have those negative emotions, then what was he? It would be nice to be happy all the time, but that just wasn’t plausible. Even with Blurry out of the picture, it was likely he’d just suffer it all himself, like he had thought he was doing. Blurry was there to balance him out, he supposed. _Or.. Frick._ he realized how much harm he’d done. _Blurry was my scapegoat._

::::

Blurry finished the race in third as Josh came in second to last. “Better than you thought I’d do, eh?” Josh laughed and set the controller down as Blurry decided on which stage to go to next. “How’re you doing? Excited for the show tonight?” He tried prompting him to talk a little bit about what had been bothering him, hoping he could help his friend in some way or another. Josh knew that Tyler didn’t like it when he worried about him, but if he’d just let him help, they could work through whatever was the issue together.  
Blurry hesitated, unsure what to say to Josh. He would be actually speaking to Josh for the first time, without the game as a distraction. He’d only seen him from Tyler’s eyes, never had he actually got to meet him. Starstruck wouldn’t be too distant of a word to describe what he felt; Josh had always been around for when Blurry was influencing Tyler’s mood, and having Josh talk to him always helped Tyler, and in turn Blurry, to calm down. And, well, he appreciated that to no end. The drummer was always there to talk some sense into him, and was a huge help in keeping his negativity at bay. Blurry felt there was no way he could ever repay him for that. “Thanks, uh, yeah, I’m-I’m fine.” He stumbled over his words, trying not to raise suspicion that he was in fact not Tyler. “The, uh, the show is gonna go great. It always does.” Blurry gave a small smile, avoiding eye contact with Josh.

Tyler watched their interactions, wishing that Blurry hadn’t taken control then and that he could get back. He needed some normality. Talking to Josh was normal. It could take his mind off of all this garbage, but instead he was forced to only watch what was happening, and he hated the feeling of having no control over himself. He definitely would prefer if Blurry, and Brendon, would keep it a secret that they were actually there; he needn’t worry Josh about something that Dallon said he could fix. Nonetheless, that didn't change their current situation. Blurry wasn’t used to being out in the world at all, and Josh might catch on that something was up. He wished he could switch out, but it seemed that they had no control over when it happened and with who.  
 _Tyler seems to be acting a bit more off than normal today_ , Josh thought. He was usually pumped about every show, but right now it just looked like he was worried. “Is something up?” Josh finally asked, figuring just getting down to it would be easier for both of them to handle instead of avoiding it altogether.  
“I, uh…” Blurry hesitated again, still refusing to look Josh in the eye. Luckily, his cell phone chimed with a text message and Blurry jumped on that opportunity to check it as a distraction.

_I think I might have something to help, but it might take a while to get together._

Blurry wavered, wondering if he should go and visit Dallon, see if there was a way to help, or if he should continue sitting here with Josh, avoiding eye contact and questions. “It’s, um, it’s Dallon. He said I left something in their room earlier..” Blurry stood up quickly, shoving the phone back in his pocket, “So, um, yeah, I’ll- I’ll be right back.”

As Blurry rushed out of the room, Josh frowned with concern. _What’s going on with him?_

Blurry made his way back to Dallon's room in a rush, hoping he didn't cause too much of a scene there or anything. Oh crap, he probably did. By the time he reached the room and knocked on the door, Blurry was on the verge of another panic attack. He tried calming himself as he waited for Dallon to open the door, taking deep breaths, but then the thought that Josh very well could have followed after him crossed his mind. That didn’t help at all.

"That was quick." Dallon remarked as he opened the door for Blurry, who hurried on inside.

"Yeah, I f-figured it was important." Blurry said, still trying to calm down. It took Dallon a moment to think of who it was. Definitely not Brendon. The jittery attitude suggested Blurry. "What, uh, what did you find out?"

Dallon took a breath, trying to phrase this carefully. It would be easier to say if it weren't Blurry who was in control, since the issue boiled down to the fact that Blurry existed, and no one had known that he did. "I'm still working on a solution, but I thought it would be important to tell you why this happened." It would probably at least put Brendon's mind at ease, Dallon figured, knowing that Brendon probably thought he screwed up the possession. He motioned to the bed. “It’s probably best you have a seat. I’m.. not sure how you’ll take this. I’ll try my best to.. Uh.. Widen my aura. Keep you relaxed.”

Blurry sat on the bed, the familiarity of the room and the confidentiality with Dallon comforting him slightly. “Widen.. your aura?”

“Sorry, uh, an-angelic ability. I try to keep it close to myself but I can, uh, expand it, and when you’re in contact with it, it’s.. well, it’s pretty calming, from what I understand.” Dallon still wasn’t good at explaining what he was, what he could do. “That’s not the point, anyway, um, I hope you don’t mind, Blurry, I presume, that I address everyone through you. I’m aware that Tyler and Brendon can see and hear what I’m telling you, even if they can’t reply.”

The idea was a little strange to him, but he understood it. “Yeah, that’s uh, fine.”

Dallon took a deep breath. “This is going to be a long explanation. Please, bear with me.”

Blurry nodded.

“Brendon,” Dallon began. “You’ll be glad to know that none of this is your fault, in fact.. it’s no one person’s fault. Not exactly.”

Internally, Brendon felt both relieved and confused. Thus far, none of this had made sense.

“But here’s where we’re between a rock and a hard place. And.. Blurry, I really want to help you understand.”

Blurry shifted slightly. “Understand what..?”

“Demons have limitations. There are some things they can’t do, and some creatures they can’t possess. Blurry.” He looked at the poor soul pointedly. “I’m afraid you’re one such creature.”

_Creature? I’m.. some kind of monster?_

Dallon continued tenderly, “I.. don’t want to give you the wrong idea. But demons.. can’t possess other demons.” Blurry’s face showed little other than fear, and confusion.

_Wrong idea? I’m some kind of demon?! No wonder I torture Tyler, no wonder I hurt him and, and, I’m-_

“Blurry, Blurry, listen to me.” Dallon gripped his shoulders gently as Blurry looked back at him once more. “You are not a demon.”  
“I’m.. not?”

Dallon shook his head. “No. But you’re made of the same dark magic. Do you remember when you first appeared?”

At this point, Blurry was mostly just confused. “N-no.. I don’t.”

This confirmed Dallon’s suspicions. “Before I go on, I want to make this extremely clear- nothing I’m going to tell you can change who you are, or that you’re as alive as I am.”

Blurry nodded slowly.

“Alright. Listen up, all of you. Blurry, you’re something called a Tulpa. At least, I’m fairly sure that’s the case.”  
Brendon looked like he was gonna rip his own hair out. “A fuckin’ Tulpa? Goddammit, no wonder we’re in this mess!" He put a hand to his forehead. "Well, Tyler, you’re right about him being alive.”

Tyler looked over to Brendon. At least he was willing to admit it, but he still didn’t know what a Tulpa was, or what it meant to the situation. “What does being a Tulpa mean? How does that explain anything?” All Brendon did was point back to the screen. “Dallon’s gonna explain.”

Blurry grew concerned. “What’s a.. Tulpa?”

“In short terms, a Tulpa is something that exists because many people believe it does. It’s a being borne of belief. Like the Loch Ness Monster, or Bigfoot. Collective belief is extremely powerful. So when Tyler gave you a name and a face, and put that out to the public, people believed. He believed. And so you came to be.”

Suddenly things made a lot more sense.

“The main difference is that normally, Tulpas are created here, in the physical world. But the belief that spread was that you were a part of Tyler, that you were in his mind. And so you were. No one knew but you.”

This was a lot to take in. Both for Tyler and for Blurry. Especially for Blurry. “So.. how did Brendon get stuck, then..?”

This was the part that connected it all. “Demons can’t possess anything made of the same stuff they are. It’s like a magnet. Same repulses same, so they can’t get in.”

“But... then Brendon shouldn’t have been able to possess Tyler.. right?”

“One would think- but here’s the kicker. Tyler’s body, your body, is completely human. He was able to possess the body, but your mind is split, half human, half Tulpa. If I'm right, he’s stuck in progress of possession, which, in the end, is what is even allowing you to be in control right now. He’s the channel by which all of you are switching out.”

Tyler looked over to Brendon. _He’s how we’re able to do all of this? Like some kind of pathway between the two worlds?_ Brendon looked like a lightbulb went off.

“Dude, no wonder everything’s been going wrong. I’m- I’m literally stuck.”

“You couldn’t tell..?”

The demon shook his head. “I’m halfway in your brain, there was no way I could have known.” He sighed. There was so much that could have gone wrong. “Man, look, I’m.. really sorry. I’m so sorry. I-I almost killed Blurry, I could have killed you, I put you in so much danger.. shit, I’m so sorry. I nearly fucked everything up.”

Tyler was unsure how to respond. He was still his friend, he obviously cared about him. Dallon really did keep him in line. He let himself smile just a little. “Me? I... I forgive you. I think your real apology needs to go to Blurry.”

“Dude there’s no way I can ever get him to trust me. I practically killed him. I would have, too. I hurt him. Really fuckin’ badly.” Brendon found himself caring about Blurry. It took Dallon’s explanation to understand that Tyler was right, that Blurry was literally part of him, and that killing Blurry might as well be murder. Even as a soulless demon, he still had a heart. Dallon made sure he had a lot of weakness in that department. _Damn him._

Blurry wasn’t quite sure what to make of all this information. “So.. So how do we fix this?”

Dallon hesitated. “It.. there’s no easy solution. It’s going to take a while.”

Blurry looked at the clock. They had four hours left to be ready. “But Brendon and Tyler have to perform tonight, h-how long is a while?”

“About.. well, maybe a day. If it works. Hopefully even sooner. But I wouldn’t count on it.”

Brendon cursed. Tyler wanted to.

Blurry was about to ask a question when he found himself once again in the auditorium with Brendon. Given all this new information, he wasn’t sure what the demon was thinking. He only knew that he was still uncomfortable around him, so he sat down a bit away from him.

“Wait, so what are we going to do about our show? If Brendon and I can’t perform?” Tyler asked, increasingly worried.

Dallon heard a distinct change in tone and syntax. _Brendon and I?_ “Tyler..?”

Tyler realized he hadn’t actually spoke with Dallon about anything since agreeing to find and talk to Brendon. “Yeah, sorry.”

“Are.. How are you holding up?” Dallon asked apprehensively.

Tyler thought for a moment. How was he holding up? “I.. I think I’m as okay as I can be. Somehow. It’s.. Really difficult, man. I mean I’m kind of freaking out, but I’m kind of not. I just really need some normalcy right now. But first, I need some answers."

Dallon could tell he was the most comfortable of the three, at least in his own body. “You need to know how we’re going to take care of this concert situation.”

Tyler nodded.

“Honestly, I.. I can’t help you personally. I can’t help you in your performance. I can, however, take care of Brendon’s. So your focus needs to be on trying to either get control of switching out, or you each need to prepare the setlist for your band.”

Tyler considered these options. “I think we can handle both.. I hope we can. But dude, how are you taking care of Panic?”

Dallon didn’t want to explain just yet. “I’ll tell you later. From the way Blurry was when he got here, I think you should go settle things with Josh before you switch out again.”

Tyler thought about how nervous Blurry was with Josh, and how hurried he was getting to Dallon’s room. Josh probably had a few questions, and he didn’t want to put Blurry on the spot again. He couldn’t risk Josh finding out. He didn’t need him worrying throughout the whole concert. Best to just keep it a secret for now.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team goes back to Josh, Blurry struggles dealing with his reality, Brendon tries to apologize, and things don't seem too awful.

Tyler said his goodbyes to Dallon as he left his room, the bassist assuring him that he would send a message as soon as he figured anything out. When he made it back to his own room, he entered and found Josh laying on one of the beds watching some cat videos on his phone. When Josh heard the door open, he looked over and sat up, setting his phone down. “Hey man, is everything alright?”

Tyler tried to play it cool. “Yeah, sorry. I wasn’t feeling too good this morning.” Tyler assured him as he sat down beside him. “Like, emotionally.” Josh gave him a quick look over, figuring that there was something else up as he had never acted like that in front of him before. If there was anyone he felt comfortable around, it was Josh. He knew that. But he pried too much last time and Tyler ran off. He wouldn’t make that choice again.

“A bit better now at least?”  
Tyler nodded and laid down. “Yeah. I think I just didn’t sleep well or something. Honestly, I’m still pretty beat. I think I might get a short nap in before the soundcheck. As long as that’s okay with you.”  
“Oh, dude, sure. You were up pretty early, I don’t blame you.” Josh thought that sounded like a good idea. Maybe it would help him calm down a bit and help him get pumped for the show. Naps were usually helpful in regards to emotion. “I’ll go start to help set things up for the show, I’ll text you when you should be ready, bro.”  
Tyler nodded and gave a thumbs up, a bit relieved that Josh was excusing himself. At least this way he wouldn’t have a distraction when he was talking with Brendon and Blurry. Not that Josh was a bad distraction, but Tyler had bigger problems at hand than continuing to worry his best friend. Once Josh had left, Tyler closed his eyes and forced himself to relax so he could get back into his mind space and talk with the other two occupants.

It surprisingly didn’t take as long as he’d have thought to end up falling asleep once again, quickly seeking out Brendon and Blurry.

 

He found the auditorium where Blurry and Brendon were still sitting, neither of them speaking. Tyler could feel the tension between the two of them, their issues still totally unresolved. Brendon saw Tyler enter, and let out a sigh. "Alright look," Blurry unwillingly turned to look at the demon as Tyler took a seat by them. "I shouldn't have tried killing you."

Blurry frowned. _Is that supposed to be an apology?_ He waited to see if Brendon had more to say, but seeing as Brendon obviously didn't like admitting he was wrong, Blurry tried to avoid the desire to roll his eyes. "...it's in the past." Blurry said after a while of silence, not wanting to deal with this right now, his mind still focusing on the fact that he wasn't human. He was somewhere between human and demon or something. He didn't even know what a Tulpa was, and yet what Dallon described it as made a scary amount of sense to him. He couldn’t remember when he started existing, or how he came to take up residence in Tyler's mind. He knew he'd been present for a while, and he figured Tyler had alluded to his existence in Vessel, but ever since Tyler actually gave him a name, albeit a name he didn't quite understand, he felt as if he was playing a bigger part of Tyler's life, even if it was all behind the scenes so to speak. Which would make sense too, with the collective believing thing that Dallon had mentioned. It was a lot to process.

"Blurry?" Tyler tried to get his attention, seeing him space out and hoping that he wasn't going to start freaking out about all this new information. Blurry looked over to him and managed a small smile to assure him he was doing okay. Although this was scary news, it did bring a sense of clarity about himself; a reason why he existed, and where he came from.

Brendon groaned, standing up. "What are we doing about the concert? Even if I learn your set in a few hours, what happens if Tulpa over here ends up taking over?" Blurry glowered at him, still not liking the fact Brendon was making comments about him. "He'll get scared and run off and Josh will be suspicious again, man."

Unfortunately, Tyler had to agree with Brendon on that. Blurry didn't know how to perform, and while Brendon did have a different style of performing, it could still work to keep the fans interested. But Blurry, obviously not liking attention, would be frozen on stage. "I'm sure there has to be some way we can control who switches out." Tyler said, unsure if that was actually true or not. All the random switching wasn't good, and if it happened at the wrong time they could be found out. While Brendon probably wouldn't mind letting everyone know he was a demon (who would believe him anyway), Tyler wouldn't feel comfortable putting Blurry in the public's eye so openly. Talking about him in songs was one thing, but if people found out he was real, he didn't know how they'd react to that. Tyler decided the best thing to do would be to teach Brendon the set, just in case something happened. This wasn't a long show, so there shouldn't be too much to teach and understand as long as the demon could focus.

As Tyler and Brendon spoke, Blurry frowned and just listened to bits and pieces, feeling a bit useless. Unfortunately Brendon did make a point. He didn't trust himself enough to perform in front of an audience, and with Josh there, he'd probably just end up too overwhelmed. After a few minutes of this though, Blurry decided to get up and explore around a bit more, since he wouldn't be missing anything while they were asleep. Maybe he could find something to soothe the aches and pains that Brendon had caused him physically. Being able to breathe properly would be a nice change, since the only time he could is if he was in control of Tyler's body, which the other two didn't seem too keen on him doing tonight. If he could control when he could switch, he would make sure it went smoothly for them, but that was still out of their control. Blurry left the auditorium, entirely unsure of what there was around that he could use to help his wounds. All that was around was the oasis, from what he saw, so he made his way there. Maybe some water could help.

Blurry crouched down to the water, taking some of the remarkably clean oasis water and drinking some. It was hard to swallow but he felt it open up his airways a bit. _Probably would have been more helpful if it was cold..._ Blurry missed the short-lived sensation of being able to actually feel. The air, the weather… Meanwhile here, stuck in Tyler’s mind, it felt like nothing. No wind, no temperature, just nothing. There was so much more to experience in the outside world, and yet… He was stuck. A Tulpa inside of the mind of Tyler Joseph, because that’s where everyone believed him to be. Even Tyler, until today. Now suddenly Tyler took this great interest in his life. Why couldn’t he be on the outside? Why was he the one stuck in here? He batted the lifeless water from in front of him, pissed off at his rotten luck. He was alive, dangit, he deserved more. Why was he the only one who wasn’t able to experience living? Why was he the only one who didn’t have a good ending to look forward to? Everything would be fixed. Back to normal. Tyler would be in control, Brendon would have his body back, and Blurry... _I draw the short straw._ He half wished Tyler had been lying. Wished Brendon had killed him. Spared him the pain of living alone, isolated, broken. Blurry’s eyes burned as tears welled up in anger. He stood, turning around and stumbling on a broken tree. He kicked it in frustration. And again. And again, and again, and again, and-

“Blurry!” Tyler called out, rushing to him. “Blurry, hey, man, stop, you’re gonna hurt yourse-”

“Man?” Blurry’s voice was coarse with pain and filled with frustration as Tyler gripped his shoulders to get him to stop. “I’m not a man! I’ve never been a man!”

“Blurry, I-”

His anger began to subside. “I’m not a man..!” He began to crash. His body started to get weak as he broke down entirely. “I’m not a man... I’ve never been a man, and I’ll never be one! I’ll never be real.. I- I’ll never be real....” His voice trailed off in agony as his knees collapsed and Tyler helped him to sit down. Blurry buried his face in his hands as he sobbed. Each breath felt like torture, but he had lost all control.

Tyler was unsure how to help him. He couldn’t tell if Blurry wanted to be left alone, or if he needed company. If he needed someone there, he was almost sure Blurry wouldn’t want it to be him. He was, after all, the reason they were in this mess to begin with. He was the one who created Blurryface. He was the one who made a deal with a demon. He knew it couldn’t have been easy news for him to handle, but to Tyler it didn’t change anything. To him, Blurry was still alive, and as real as could be, and he was determined to lessen his burdens as much as possible. “Blurry, I.. I’m sorry. If you want me to leave you alone, I will.. Just, come back in. Promise me you’ll come back into the auditorium when you’re ready."

Blurry remained relatively still, sobbing almost silently, his hassled breaths coming in uneven waves.

“I’ll be inside if you need me..” Tyler offered, standing up to return. Blurry reached and gripped his tattooed wrist. He managed a quiet, painful, “stay...”

 

::::

 

The last thing Tyler expected was for Blurry to stop him from leaving. He caught him rather off guard as he looked back to him. Blurry looked back to Tyler, tears still in his red eyes, almost pleading. "Al-alright..." Tyler nodded and sat back down beside Blurry, whose grip on his wrist didn't seem to let up until a minute later, when he was sure he wasn't going to be leaving. Blurry had spent so much time alone, having Tyler here with him was something that he needed, he thought. Blurry ended up leaning against Tyler, continuing to quietly cry against his shoulder. The man in turn decided to gently rub Blurry's back to help him calm down. "It's okay, I won't go."

The words seemed to help, he thought, as Blurry seemed to ease up, the reassurance of his counterpart staying helping him to relax slowly. "Thank you..." Blurry managed to choke out between sobs. Everything was just so overwhelming, and he was in so much unbearable pain. In most cases he would want to be left alone, that being his norm anyway, but Tyler's presence made him feel rather safe, despite all that had been happening.

The longer they sat, the more Tyler could feel Blurry relaxing as he continued rubbing his back. He wasn't in a hurry, so spending time tending to Blurry was no bother to him at all. He'd rather that Blurry felt he could trust him. Tyler heard Blurry say another pained 'thank you' again and he gave him a small smile. "It's no trouble, bro."

 _Bro..._ Blurry couldn't help but smile back a bit in return upon hearing that word. Just as he was getting comfortable and relaxed though, he saw Brendon making his way over and he just tensed up again, which caused Tyler to look over and see Brendon too.

"Scoot over." The demon took a seat on the other side of Tyler with a sigh. He didn't enjoy being alone. He hadn't really been alone in a long while, seeing as if he were ever lonely he could just take out his phone and talk to anyone. But that wasn't the case right now. Unless he was out when they were awake, his only options of entertainment were Tyler or Blurry. He didn't like this. No one really seemed to enjoy this situation at all. Brendon sat for a minute before starting. "Okay look," he said, looking at Blurry and swallowing his pride before continuing, "I was wrong. I should have noticed that something was seriously fucked up when I saw you were an actual person instead of just an idea in Ty's head." The beginnings of an actual apology caused Blurry to lift his head from Tyler's shoulder and look at Brendon, still more than a little apprehensive towards him, but willing to listen. "It never even crossed my mind that you were actually a Tulpa this whole time, and I should have realized that sooner." _But Dallon beat me to it, that fucking holy show off._ Brendon sighed again, absolutely not comfortable with admitting his mistakes. He directed his attention to both of them. "I could have ended up killing you if I'd gotten rid of Blurry." Tyler looked at Brendon too, frowning. Yeah that was true. Both of them could have been obliterated. But, at least they knew now. Maybe this would help Blurry and Brendon to at least be civil to each other, allowing Tyler a bit of stress relief when he was in control. "So, er, I guess I'm trying to say sorry." He mumbled quickly, looking away from them. "I know I can't erase what I did," Brendon glanced over to the deep bruises covering Blurry's neck, "but I'd like to help fix that if you’ll let me." The demon wasn't sure how limited his powers were like this, stuck somewhere in progress of a possession, and he didn't exactly have 'white angelic super sparkly magic healing powers' like Dallon did, but he needed to give it a shot. It was his fault Blurry was all battered up and damaged, and although he was loathe to admit it, Dallon had always made him accountable for his mistakes and he knew the angel would not let him hear the end of it if this whole situation was resolved and he didn't at least give an effort to fix what he wronged.

Blurry gave a hesitant nod to Brendon's request to help. Although he was still unsure about the demon’s intentions, if he knew a way to help him get better, he’d give him that chance. But only one. And Tyler was still there if something went wrong, he would protect him, like he had prevented his death the first time. He was sure of that now.

Brendon gave it a moment of thought, needing to think of what kind of magic he was even able to use, if he could at all. But it was worth a shot. "Look, I'm not sure if this shit is gonna work, but I have to try." The demon started, standing and moving until he was behind Blurry. He placed a hand against Blurry's neck, which caused him instinctively to shy away. After taking a moment to compose himself, Blurry took a shaky breath and allowed Brendon to continue. Brendon made sure not to grip his neck, only gently rest his hand there. He knew he had practically traumatized the poor man, and that he had to be as careful as possible. Once Blurry seemed somewhat relaxed, a faint dark 'light' began pulsing from beneath Brendon's hand, and to Tyler that looked like it was all there was. On Blurry's end, however, it was a weird sensation. He didn't know how to describe it, aside from his body felt as though it were mending itself. The longer Brendon's hand stayed there, the more easily he could breathe again. Whatever the demon was doing, it was working. By the time Brendon moved his hand away, all of the bruising around Blurry’s neck seemed to have completely vanished, and he could breathe just as effortlessly as he could before Brendon assaulted him.

"Thank you..." Blurry managed a small smile in the demon's direction. While he still couldn't fully trust him, this helped him understand his motives weren’t all bad.

"Don't say... I never did anything for... You, dude." Brendon gave a slight grin in return, his speech and breathing noticeably different. It sounded hurt, haggard, a bit hoarse. Tyler and Blurry turned to look at him, and saw that even though Blurry's bruises were gone, they now appeared around Brendon's neck. What looked like a dark purple on Blurry’s blackened neck, was, on Brendon’s considerably lighter skin, a frightening multicolor splash of deep, painful hues. Brendon saw the concern on their faces. "Eh, don't worry... I've had worse." The demon waved it off like no problem. Though admittedly, it did hurt. A shit ton, to put it lightly. No wonder Blurry wasn't a fan of him, if this was the pain that he caused the Tulpa. Dallon would be proud of him for the sacrifice. Brendon laughed weakly at that thought.

"Are you going to be alright?" Tyler frowned again, which caused Brendon to nod in return.

"My dark magic will.. Help me heal faster." Which wasn't a lie. The dark magic the demon possessed would actively work to keep him alive and well, without him trying. While Blurry may be made from the same darkness he was, Tulpas couldn't harness the power of it in the way that demons could. It would be better for everyone involved if Brendon held onto the wounds and damages.

Blurry took a refreshing breath, helping him calm down and almost feel revitalized. "Thanks." He said again. Even if he still didn't like the demon, that didn't mean he couldn't be thankful for trying to fix the damage that he did.

Brendon nodded in response, taking a short sigh. Hopefully dealing with these wounds wouldn't take too long. He didn't enjoy being hurt like this if he could help it. “So, I think... I can handle your set... worst case scenario.” He added, figuring it shouldn’t be too hard to remember the lyrics. And if he forgot, he could always have the crowd sing for him until he remembered. 

Tyler nodded as well, glad he thought he had it under control. As long as he didn’t raise suspicion if it happened, everything should work out completely fine, he hoped. Blurry hesitated a moment before asking, “What happens if I end up in control?”

Tyler looked at Brendon, who returned his glance. “We… haven’t figured that out yet.” Tyler admitted, looking back to Blurry. 

“We could try delaying the show... until one of us switches out, but… I think that’s all we got.” Brendon added. Blurry looked down, wishing he could be of use, but he knew they were right when they said that he’d end up freaking out if he had to go on stage. All those people staring at him, Josh playing beside him… He’d end up being a mess.

“I, uh, I suppose when someone wakes up, the ones left here should try figuring out how to control switching out?” Blurry suggested. Even though he enjoyed watching in the auditorium as someone else was awake, figuring out how to switch at will was more important.

“Alright.” Tyler agreed, looking at both of them, “So, do you think we’re okay to wake?” The others gave a shrug as a response, not sure what more that they could do here. “Everyone cross your fingers and hope for the best, then.”

Blurry stood. “Let’s at least all go back to the auditorium while we wait..”

Brendon nodded in agreement, since they didn’t know when they would wake up. As they made their way back, they realized Tyler had gone missing. When Blurry and Brendon entered the theater, they saw Tyler slowly waking up as his text tone went off. “Well.. at least Tyler’s.. the one awake.”

Blurry sat nervously. “Yeah, but that just makes it more likely he won’t be out for the concert...”

Brendon grimaced. He was right. They were living on a hope and a prayer at this point. He went to sit next to Blurry. “Is.. this okay with you..?”

Blurry thought about it for a moment. Sure, the demon could at any point change his mind about not killing him, but he seemed to be really trying to win over his trust. “Yeah. Th-thank you for asking.”

Brendon sat next to him and turned his thoughts to trying to solve their switching dilemma.

Tyler woke up at the sound of his phone going off. He sat up and checked it. It was Josh, letting him know to get up and ready as promised. He shot a text back- “Thanks, be there soon.”

Thinking about how unusual the day had been thus far he sent another- “Sorry about this morning.”

Tyler got up and rummaged through his suitcase for his clothes for the concert. He grabbed his black skinny jeans and a t-shirt, as well as his floral kimono. He found a spot away from the mirrors and changed, staring at the wall as much as possible. He wasn’t exactly keen on Brendon watching him change. Blurry, he figured, had seen the best and the worst already. Especially since they shared a body.  He got dressed and texted Dallon- “Going to soundcheck? Need a lift. Josh is already there.”

It only took a minute for him to text back. “Yeah, come on up.”

Tyler stood and grabbed his room key and wallet, putting them in his pockets, and left the room, heading again up to 306. He knocked on the door, and not long after Dallon opened it and ushered him inside. He entered and sat on the bed as Dallon finished buttoning his shirt. “You seem to be feeling better. Who do I have the pleasure of bringing with me?” he asked.

“The one and only.” Tyler replied, smiling slightly.

Dallon smiled back. “Glad to see things aren’t too terrible. How is everyone, do you know?”

“They’re okay, I think.”

Brendon wanted to yell through the screen. _Come on, man, tell him what I did! I don’t need him on my case next time I see him!_

For a moment, Tyler thought he heard something. Had he...? He thought it sounded like Brendon..

“They’re.. Brendon’s.. a good person.”

Dallon looked at him funny. “A good person? Or a bad demon?” He smirked.

“He healed Blurry.”

Dallon was confused. “Healed? He has no healing powers. How did he heal him?”

Tyler thought how best to describe it. “I guess.. it was more like a transference of injury. He took his injuries instead.”

Dallon raised his eyebrows in understanding. “Innovative. It’s a subset of his powers of possession. Transference. Demons usually use it to jump from one person to the next when their host is no longer needed but is in contact with another potential. Brendon, I’m.. actually proud of you. Really.”

Brendon fist pumped in success, then realized what had just happened. Did Tyler just... Hear him? _Dude, if you can hear me snap your fingers._ He thought, directed at the screen, at Tyler.

 _Snap my.. fingers?_ Could he really hear Brendon? He decided it didn’t hurt to just do it. He snapped his fingers once.

Brendon nearly lost it. He tapped Blurry on the shoulder to get his attention. “Blurry... We can talk to Tyler.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you've stuck with us so far, thank you so much! We love feedback. :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Concert time.

Blurry’s eyes widened. “What? How?”

“I asked him.. to snap his fingers.. I just.. had to focus on.. directing it at him... And he did.”

“You mean.. just talking directly to him?”

“Like he’s.. the screen.”

Blurry felt he needed to try. Only he spoke aloud. “Tyler, if you can hear me, let Dallon know. I think we figured something out.”

Tyler looked at Dallon. “I can hear them.”

Dallon, who had moved to rolling up his sleeves in the mirror to make sure they were even, turned around. “What? Really? That’s great news! Are you sure?”

Tyler wondered if he had imagined it. He was pretty sure he hadn’t, but he couldn’t really know for certain until he switched back in. “I’m pretty sure. I.. I can’t really confirm it, but.. yeah.”

 _Good,_ he thought, _this could come in handy during the concert._

“Thats a big step forward, at least. Meanwhile, how are you in terms of the concert? Are you guys prepared?”

Tyler took a deep breath. “We’re prepared if it’s me or Brendon. If it’s Blurry... honestly, all we can do is hope, I guess.”

“Blurry can’t perform?”

“We don’t think he’s ready to handle that much of a situation. I mean, he could barely talk to Josh. Everything is new to him. I would imagine it’s frightening enough as it is.”

 _You can say that again... But I.. still really want to learn._ Blurry thought.

Tyler sighed. He felt all wrong. He usually was so lighthearted about everything, but this.. this was just too much seriousness. He couldn’t find it in himself to joke about anything. He just hoped he made it to soundcheck and got to spend some time on stage with Josh before the concert.

Dallon nodded. “You’re probably right. I’m ready to leave, so we should probably go. And.. you haven’t had anything to eat yet today, have you?”

Tyler shook his head.

“Let’s grab something on the way.”

As they drove, they passed by a few fast food joints but Tyler insisted they stop at a Taco Bell, so they ended up grabbing some food there before continuing on their way. Luckily it didn’t take too long to reach the concert setting, probably about fifteen minutes, so once they got there Tyler set off to go find Josh before the concert, and hopefully before someone else switched out. Tyler found the drummer helping set up on the stage and headed over to him.

“You made it!” Josh grinned at his friend. “Feeling a bit better now?” He hoped that nap helped Tyler straighten out whatever was bothering him.

Tyler gave a nod, feeling a bit better about the situation now that it seemed that they could communicate with each other. So, worst case scenario, if Brendon forgot lyrics if he switched out, Tyler could remind him what they were. It wouldn’t be the most ideal, but it would work if he needed it. “Yeah, loads bro.” He returned the grin before going to help him set up the stage.

Once everything seemed to be in place, there was only about an hour before show time, and already people were starting to flood into the concert hall. Seeing all of those people, Blurry understood exactly why he wouldn’t be able to perform. He wasn’t even on stage yet and he was extremely nervous at looking at all of those people. On the other hand, Brendon seemed to be annoyed that it wasn’t him that could perform for himself. Dallon said he had the Panic! situation ‘under control’, but that didn’t change the fact that he wouldn’t be able to perform for his own fans.

Tyler and Josh went backstage to their dressing room, and Josh threw on some really nasty beats. Tyler willed himself to let loose and go nuts with his best friend in the dressing room like he always did.

Brendon had never had an inside look at what these two did in their spare time. But now, he was totally convinced. _What a fucking nerd, holy shit._ Blurry, on the other hand, always thought their pre-show warm up looked like a lot of fun.

Tyler sang some of his favorite songs to get his voice ready for what was to come. Josh, however, did some stretches and pumped himself up, both of them laughing and enjoying each others’ company. Tyler needed this. This was the normalcy that broke up his day, that reminded him that not all was bad, that he still had his best friend, and that his best friend could still make him laugh so hard he thought he might puke. Before he knew it, it was ten minutes to show time.

“Are you ready?” Josh asked, looking to Tyler, who nodded in response. He just hoped that he could stay active for the whole show, if not at least most of it. They could already hear the large crowd cheering in anticipation.

“Never been better.” He managed, trying to keep the nerves of switching out down. Josh could sense that, and gave him a pat on the back for reassurance.

“It’ll go great, bro. Just like the other shows, yeah?”

Tyler nodded again as the time finally came for them to come out on the stage. Josh went out first while the lights were still dark to go get himself set up at his drums. While the crowd was still cheering loudly, the beginning of heavydirtysoul started playing, which made them cheer even louder. When it was Tyler’s cue to come in, he walked onto the stage, starting his rap.

 

::::

 

They were at least halfway through their set, and everything seemed to be going just fine. Tyler had loosened up to the point where honestly he had forgotten that Brendon and Blurry were sitting there in his mind. He was able to talk with Josh between songs, tell small stories to the crowd, and everything seemed to be going as if nothing was wrong. He went on to start on We Don’t Believe What’s On TV, and before he knew it he was suddenly watching himself on a screen. He felt his stomach drop, and he looked over to see Blurry sitting beside him. That made him only a little bit relieved, since he had gone over this song with Brendon, and he hoped desperately that he could pull off the rest of the show if he didn’t end up switching on back.

Brendon had been so relaxed just watching Tyler, that when he was thrusted onto stage he was thrown out of sorts.

_We Don’t Believe is next, Brendon._

Hearing Tyler’s voice shook him out of his daze, and he tried to focus on keeping the show going. He gripped the ukulele in his hand, not quite used to holding one, but he did remember how to play one, he had assured Tyler of that previously. He strummed a bit of the ukulele to get a feel for it quickly then looked out to the crowd with a grin. Brendon thought back to the chords that Tyler had taught him, and he started playing the song. The fans cheered at the familiar song, and as he started to sing he tried not to show how thrown off he was by hearing Tyler’s voice come out of the speakers.

Tyler sat anxiously as he watched Brendon sing. So far so good, he thought, glad that he was remembering the lyrics and chords. He should be out there singing, but for now he had to put his trust into Brendon; and well, the last time he did that they ended up in this situation. Needless to say he was rather worried about how the concert was going to go from now.

As the song went on, Brendon found himself getting more comfortable on the stage, even as Tyler, and he loosened up a bit more, moving across the stage to try and convey that he was Tyler and not actually himself. As he continued, he saw Dallon off the side of the stage and flashed him a grin and a wink before focusing back on the crowd once again.

 _Brendon..._ Dallon rolled his eyes. He would have to have a chat with him about that when the concert was over.

He continued getting more comfortable as the set went on, the reminders from Tyler helping him know which song was next. The banter between the crowd was something he tried to avoid though, feeling that it would give himself away too much. Due to that, his chatting with Josh suffered a bit too, but he guessed it wouldn’t be that big of a deal. 

_Alright, this is the last one, then we are done._

Brendon gave a quiet sigh of relief, although he was still worried about what Dallon had planned for his own show. But the last one, then he didn’t have to worry about acting like Tyler any more.  
 _Guns for Hands._ Tyler reminded him, hoping they could get through this last song without problem. “Alright, dudes, this is gonna be the last one before we say goodbye.” Brendon said, pacing around on the stage and looking out to the crowd. “You guys have been great!” And with that, he motioned for Josh to start playing, and they got started on the last song.  
Tyler waited with anticipation, the closer they got to the end, the more anxious he got. _Only a little bit longer, then we’re in the clear…_ Tyler figured Brendon might be going a bit underboard with his movements, Tyler usually running and jumping across the stage, but it was too late to tell him to fix that now. He just hoped that it didn’t draw enough attention to the fact something was up.

The song was going as smoothly as the others had gone, but as the final note played, Brendon was back in the auditorium, sitting beside Tyler. As he sat, Tyler heard an almost silent “fuck me.”

The crowd was going wild, clapping and cheering for an encore, and Blurry stood there nearly paralyzed with fear. That was all there was right? That was the last song? Tyler had said it was the last song, right? He could go leave?

 _It’s alright._ Blurry heard Tyler’s voice, which set him slightly at ease. _We aren’t doing an encore tonight, dude, it’s fine._ Blurry looked around for a moment, and he saw Josh standing up to come over to him so they could wave goodbye to the crowd together. He tensed up again as Josh stood beside him. _Just shout out our usual closing, Blurry._ He found it hard to focus, looking at the crowd and seeing all the faces, all the flashes of the cameras… _You can do it_. Blurry took a shaky breath before quickly shouting out, “W-we’re twenty one pilots…! And so are you!” At that, the crowd cheered even louder as Josh bowed, and Blurry took the hint that he should as well. As they did, the lights on the stage dimmed down until it was dark, and Blurry took that chance to bolt away, his nerves getting the better of him. He hurried off the stage, whizzing past Dallon, and ran out into a mostly abandoned hallway behind the stage. He found a small outcove-like area by a door to another room and he huddled down, hiding himself. If Josh followed after him he didn’t want to be found. Blurry was breathing hard, in the middle of an anxiety attack, completely overwhelmed by having switched out into so much chaos. His, rather Tyler’s, heart was racing a mile a minute it felt. He tried taking deep breaths to calm down, but having the spotlight literally on him, in addition to the loud screaming and the heat of the stage, was an absolutely terrifying experience.

“Tyler?”

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth will out.

At hearing Josh’s voice get closer, he tried hiding himself more, but a floral kimono wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to miss. He tried his best to make himself smaller, less noticeable, and he heard footsteps run by. Taking a shaking sigh of relief, he peeked his head out from under the kimono and he soon saw Josh standing in front of him, causing him to shrink into himself.

“Tyler, what’s going on with you today?” The worried drummer crouched down beside his friend, knowing that this wasn’t something that could be tiptoed around and avoided any longer. Something was up, and Tyler was keeping it to himself. Blurry refused to look back at Josh, wishing desperately for someone else to switch out and talk themselves out of this. He felt a hand on his shoulder, causing him to cringe once again. “Bandmates don’t keep secrets from each other, dude. Let me help you.” Josh was right. Blurry knew he was. Finally, he broke and started to cry, all of those fearful emotions catching up to him. Josh put an arm around him to try and help his friend calm down. “It’s okay, Tyler…” Now, Josh was even more worried. It was hardly like Tyler to break down crying. “You’ve been acting off all day, bro.” He rubbed his back, frowning at the fact that Tyler wouldn’t explain anything to him. “The concert too. Like, halfway through you didn’t seem like yourself.” Being put on the spot like that again just caused Blurry to sob more, instinctively leaning his head against Josh’s shoulder, needing to feel that he wasn’t alone. “What’s wrong, man?” Blurry just continued crying, grabbing tightly at Josh’s shirt. “Hey… please, dude. Let me help…” Knowing that Josh was worried, Blurry tried to compose himself, sitting back up and wiping his eyes with his hands before managing to look at Josh. Seeing him though, Josh looked more than a little confused. “You.. didn’t have your contacts in the entire concert did you?”

Tyler looked at Brendon then back to the screen in confusion. Contacts? He never put those in. Those were usually used for parts in music videos, not while in concert. He didn’t even bring them with him on their tour. “What’s he talking about?” he asked to Brendon, who merely shrugged. 

_Dude, I never put in contacts._

Hearing Tyler’s voice caused him to jump, his words not helping his situation though. What did Josh mean? What contacts? The red ones..? He quickly looked away from Josh, standing up.

_Your- your eyes must be showing. This isn’t right, he’ll know something's up._

Blurry hesitated, torn between running again and worrying Josh even more, or staying and confessing it all to him.

“Tyler, please, don’t run off again.” Josh stood up, growing more and more concerned about his friend.

Blurry and Tyler weren't sure what to do. The safe option for their secret would be to run off, but that would involve hurting Josh more, which Tyler really didn’t want to happen. All of this avoiding to make Josh not worry was just backfiring on them.

After a moment of quiet, Blurry finally spoke. “I-I’m not Tyler.” Tyler didn’t say anything to stop him, seeing as how they had already caused Josh an undue amount of worry. Josh gave him a questioning look, unsure what he meant by that. “Blurry. Ah, B-blurryface.” He managed, looking away again. Josh frowned, not understanding what he meant. Was he just trying to throw him off the real problem? Did he put those contacts in while he was looking for him or something? Josh still not seeming to understand or believe him, Blurry bit his lip in worry. “I-I know it doesn’t… It doesn’t make sense.”

“Tyler?” Blurry and Josh heard someone call out, and looking around they saw that Dallon was coming towards them. “Are you okay--” Dallon started, but stopped at seeing the red eyes. Blurry. It wasn’t hard to identify, which was not right. They were all supposed to look like Tyler, even if Tyler wasn’t in control. Why was Blurry showing some of his own features through?

“Honestly, no it really doesn’t make sense.” Josh interjected, trying to get the focus on him again. Blurry looked back to him hesitantly. “If you say that you aren’t Tyler, then where is he?”

Blurry thought for a minute, his head reeling, trying to decide how to go about this. “Waiting to come out, I guess?” He frowned and shook his head, trying to think of a better explanation. “I mean, I, uh, I guess I am Tyler, physically speaking. But we’ve, uh, been sharing a mind.” Blurry hoped that was enough, but Josh didn’t seem to accept that as an answer entirely. “Sometimes I’m Tyler, and other times I’m not.” The more he heard himself speak, the more confused he made himself. He sighed, thinking of no better way to explain. “We’re separate beings sharing a body?” He tried, looking back to Dallon for reassurance. Dallon just nodded, not wanting to interfere in their exchange.

Josh seemed to be processing through this information, trying to make sense of it all. After a minute of unsettling silence, Josh spoke, not quite believing his own words, “So, you’re Blurryface right now?”

Blurry nodded, hesitantly looking at Josh once again, his eyes still red. “Bl-blurry is fine, though.” He insisted, not exactly fond of the full name that Tyler had given him.

“And Tyler is…?”

He took a deep breath. “Watching what’s going on from up here.” Blurry pointed to his head.

_Make sure he knows I’m okay, that you aren’t hurting me._

“It-it doesn’t hurt him, or me. We just, uh, can’t control when I’m me and when he’s himself.” Blurry added quickly from Tyler’s prompting, which was probably a good idea. If Tyler’s songs about him were about ‘taking him out’, Josh probably wouldn’t be too keen to learn that he had ‘taken over’.

“So... you’re serious right now.” Josh said hesitantly. Blurry nodded. “And those really aren’t contacts..?” he asked, cautiously. Blurry shook his head. “And-and this is.. new? Just from today..?”

Again Blurry nodded, and he thought it best to add, “I’ve.. been around for.. a while.. But I’ve never been outside before..” His heart was still pounding, and he still felt like he was going to cry if one more thing went wrong. He waited anxiously for a reaction from Josh, and after a painfully long minute of the drummer catching up to the situation, Josh looked up at him, making an effort to make eye contact with the obviously frightened and overwhelmed man. When Blurry met his eyes, he didn’t see anger, or even fear, as he was afraid he would, but he instead found only compassion.

Josh hesitated. “B-Blurry..” It felt weird to call his best friend by a different name, but after he had thought about everything he was told, he realized he was certainly not talking to Tyler, at the very least. This wasn’t the best friend he knew. But if he was the same Blurryface Tyler had always spoke of, then.. well, he didn’t quite understand what was going on, but clearly the man in front of him was not in good shape. He searched Blurry’s eyes for just a moment, before pulling him into a tight embrace.

Blurry’s eyes widened as Josh brought him close. Of all of the possibilities, he hadn’t even considered this. He froze, unsure how to react.

“Things will be okay.” Josh said. The Blurryface Tyler had always talked about was a bad guy, someone he had to beat every day. But this Blurryface seemed frightened, confused, and uncomfortable. He wondered how any of this came to be.

When Josh spoke, Blurry was confused. But he felt that the drummer meant every word he said. He relaxed slightly and allowed himself to find comfort in his friend’s arms.

Josh didn’t let go until he knew Blurry had relaxed a little bit. When he did, he held him at arms length, feeling nothing but concern and love for the overwhelmed man in front of him. “I’m sorry this is hard for you. You might not want to, but we have to talk about it later. Panic’s set starts in about fifteen minutes, and until then, I want to get to know you properly.”

 _Know me properly..?_ He nodded slightly and sniffled. "But... My eyes...?" Blurry wasn't sure he could go anywhere until his eye color returned to Tyler's regular brown. If it did.

"Just act like they're contacts. Or.. oh, wear your shades."

Blurry nodded, remembering Tyler's shades were still in his pocket. He took them out and put them on. Dallon came over finally, feigning ignorance. "Are you guys alright?" He asked both of them. But Blurry could tell it was mainly directed at him and the two inside. Blurry nodded. "Yeah, we're, uh, okay."

Dallon nodded in return. "I have to go get ready for the show. But I'll talk to you later."

"Have fun, man." Josh said.

 _Hey, man, I'm proud of you. It went well. You're okay._ Blurry heard Tyler tell him. It comforted him to know Tyler approved of his actions. Josh put his arm around the Tulpa's shoulder and started walking to their dressing room with him.

"Are you feeling any better?" Josh asked him. Blurry nodded a little.

"Yeah, thank you.."

They got to their dressing room and Josh sat down on the small couch inside. Blurry sat beside him, far enough that he could turn to face him. He wasn’t sure what to do, other than wait for Panic’s show to start. Speaking of that, how was Dallon going to fix the Brendon-less lineup? He knew he would have to go watch. Josh sighed, and then spoke up first.

“So.. you’re really Blurry. And.. was it you, then, who ran off earlier this morning?” he asked.

“Yeah... I’m sorry.”

Josh shook his head. “It’s okay, now that I know.” he paused. “I know, I should probably ask the more important questions, like why and how, but I feel like.. I have a feeling we don’t have time right now. And I know I can’t do anything here, for sure. So... I guess just.. Tell me what’s wrong. Just, with you. What’s bothering you specifically? Let me help you.”

Blurry shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He didn’t love talking about himself. But, it was Josh. He took his sunglasses off, allowing Josh to see his eyes. “Just.. I.. Everything is new to me. I’ve never experienced the real world.. until this morning.”

Josh seemed interested. “It’s different, um.. inside?”

Blurry nodded. Talking with Josh was actually comforting. “You don’t.. really feel anything. There’s no, like, temperature, and all of your senses are like.. they feel different. You hear, but, you don’t actually hear. There's no real volume, you know? You see, but you’re not using your eyes. It’s... really different out here.. and it’s really.. um, overwhelming..”

Josh suddenly had a look of concern. “You mean, you’ve.. never tasted a taco?”

Blurry couldn’t help but smirk and let out a half laugh. He had always appreciated Josh’s humor, especially when things felt grim. He shook his head. “I’ve yet to taste anything..”

Josh grinned. “We’ll have to fix that, then. Okay, next question: What do you look like?”

“Um..” Blurry remembered that his hands and neck were still blackened from the concert. “I.. I guess I look exactly like this.. Like Tyler portrayed me..”

One of Josh’s eyebrows went up. “Like, with the black hands and stuff?”

Blurry nodded. “And, um, the red eyes.. obviously.”

“But your eyes didn’t change earlier today..”

“I.. I don’t know why they did.. I.. don’t think they’re supposed to.. I don’t really know what’s going on right now..”

The two heard the five minutes warning over their radio, meant obviously for Panic!, but they always watched each other perform.

“I see.. Okay, so.. what about Tyler right now? He can see us? Hear us?”

Blurry nodded again. “And I can hear him, um, if he wants me to.”

Josh thought for a moment. “So, I could actually talk to Tyler, through you?”

 _Pretty much, yeah_ , Blurry heard. “Um, Tyler said pretty much.”

“How is he? I mean, this... doesn’t seem like it’s been easy on you. Either of you.” Josh asked concernedly.

_Let him know I’m okay, and that I’m sorry I didn’t tell him before the show._

“He, uh, said he’s okay. He’s.. and-and I, too, we’re sorry.. that we didn’t tell you before the show... We didn’t want you to worry..”

Josh shook his head. “Dude, it’s okay. Just.. please, don’t keep any more secrets like this. You know what we agreed on.”

Blurry spoke softly. “No secrets between band members...”

Josh nodded. “None that are important, and especially none that hurt and/or worry yourself or me.” He looked at Blurry. “I would rather worry about helping you fix a problem than worry about whether or not you have one, and how bad it could be. I just need to know what’s on your mind. You’re my best friend.”

Blurry furrowed his brow. “I.. Tyler’s your best friend.” he corrected him.

Josh shook his head. “You’re part of him, right? Or something like that? That makes you my best friend, too.”

Inside, Tyler smiled. He was glad he had Josh around. Both for him and for Blurry. Brendon had practically fallen asleep at this point. His eyes were closed and he hadn’t said much since he switched out. Tyler figured he was either asleep or thinking, and he wouldn’t bother him until they went to watch Panic!’s set.

Josh and Blurry heard the one minute warning, and Josh stood up. “Time to go, man.”

Blurry put his sunglasses back on. He.. actually felt a lot better. Spending time talking to Josh had helped considerably to calm his nerves, and his heart felt almost normal. “Thank you.”

Josh helped him up and hugged him again. “You’re my best friend. You don’t have to thank me.” He said, and he smiled. Josh opened the door to the dressing room. “Hey Blurry,” he started. Blurry looked at him. “... Be prepared for a frick ton of noise and lights. You’ll be okay.” He smiled again.

Blurry was thankful for his concern, and grabbed a bottle of water before leaving the dressing room and heading to the stage wings.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Panic! performs without Brendon?  
> Or,   
> The One Where Dallon Has A Genius Idea And Saves Their Skins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's kind of short, putting the next part with this one didn't really feel right, and the next bit is kind of long and exposition-y. <3 Thank you for reading!

They went to an area off the side-front of the stage, away from the crowd, where they could watch Panic!’s performance. Tyler, and Brendon especially, were wondering what Dallon had up his sleeve to fix the situation that Brendon wasn’t present. The stage was dark, and the crowd was cheering impatiently, waiting for the star to show up. Dallon was probably already up there, waiting to play, since it was literally minutes before their set started.

“Brendon, I don’t think you want to miss this.” Tyler gently shook Brendon’s shoulder to wake him up from sleeping.

“Mmm?” He groaned, rubbing his eyes and looking at the screen. It was Panic!’s turn, and upon seeing this Brendon was wide awake. _What does Dallon have planned…?_ He watched the screen closely, waiting just as impatiently as the crowd was. What was really only about two minutes felt like an eternity to the demon, when finally he’d heard the intro to Vegas Lights, counting up then down. The lights were still out, but they’d be bright very shortly, and he would finally be able to see what Dallon was planning. As the band finally started, and the lights went on, to their surprise they saw what appeared to be Brendon standing up there, playing and singing. _What the fuck is this?_ Brendon looked at the stage in confusion, trying to figure out how Dallon managed that. Tyler and Blurry were rather puzzled by the apparent Brendon on stage, performing just as he would without problem. All three of them were trying to figure out what exactly he had done, when Brendon noticed something and pointed at the screen. “Did you see that?” 

Tyler raised an eyebrow at Brendon before looking back to the screen as well. He watched for a moment before he realized what the other was talking about. When the Brendon on stage moved a certain way, they could actually see the lights from above go right through him. It was hard to notice, but if you were looking for it you’d be able to see it.

“A mirage?” Brendon asked, looking at it closer. His suspicions were confirmed the longer he watched, seeing the him on stage mostly avoiding getting near Dallon, Kenny, or Daniel. “That’s... fucking genius!” Brendon laughed coarsely, leaning back in the seat, proud of what Dallon had come up with. He definitely wouldn’t have thought of something like that himself, he had to hand it to the angel; he always came through when he needed to. 

Blurry was trying to ignore the commotion going on in his head, trying to enjoy the show for what it was. He looked over to Josh, who seemed to be enjoying himself, which made Blurry smile a bit. Josh really was a great person, and he felt honored that he wanted to get to know him, that Josh actually cared enough to want to learn about him. A few minutes into Panic!’s set however, Brendon was the one who found himself standing beside Josh, and Blurry was tucked away back in the auditorium with Tyler. _This is great!_ Brendon thought, being able to watch Dallon’s ‘miracle’ with his, er, Tyler’s, own eyes. It looked just like him, moved just like him, sang just like him. Dallon was controlling it or something, right? That caused a small smile, Brendon glad to know that his band mate knew how he acted on stage well enough to recreate it. The demon went to leave to get a better look, move up closer, but remembered Josh there beside him. Josh didn’t know that Brendon was involved in this right? He’d kind of fallen asleep halfway through the explanation, but he assumed that he wasn’t mentioned if Josh didn’t have any sort of reaction to seeing that Brendon up there on the stage. Since Blurry was the last one out, he should be acting as the Tulpa. Brendon tried to get into an acting mindset as he gently tapped Josh on the shoulder.

“Ah, I’m gonna go try and get a better look.” He tried to say in the meek voice that Blurry seemed to speak in.

“You gonna be okay?” Josh asked, thinking he had a fine view from here, “I can go too if you’d like?”

“N-no, I’m fine, I’ll be alright…!” Brendon mimicked, figuring he was coming off as convincing enough. 

“Alright, you know where I am if you need me, bro.” The drummer responded, figuring that if Blurry wanted to go on his own for a bit it shouldn’t be a problem; he seemed calmed down enough to be able to handle himself.

Brendon gave a quick nod before he went to move away, trying to move closer to the side of the stage where Dallon was. He managed to get a perfectly clear view of Dallon, and if the bassist had looked over he would be able to see him just fine too. Dallon finally looked over in his direction in the middle of Camisado, and Brendon seized this moment to try and make Dallon mess up. Brendon groped himself and pushed his hips forward, simultaneously winking and licking his lips. Unfortunately for Dallon, while he knew it had to be Brendon, he couldn’t help but see Tyler performing these incredibly out of character actions. He nearly burst out laughing, but managed to keep his cool, aside from grinning like an idiot, holding it all back. Brendon started laughing too, only to be assaulted by yelling within seconds. 

_What do you think you’re doing?!_ Tyler was clearly very unhappy with Brendon’s actions. If he was one of those people who swore, he would definitely be cussing out the demon right now. _What if someone else had seen that?!_

Brendon just laughed again, waving off Tyler’s yelling. _Oh come on, no one else saw, your reputation is just fine._

Regardless if someone had seen or not, Tyler was basically steaming at the ears at having his body used like that for Brendon’s pranks, or whatever he wanted to call it. 

“Tyler…” Blurry put a hand to Tyler’s shoulder to try and calm him down. He definitely didn’t like it either, especially if Josh had seen, because Josh would have no other person to blame it on than him. He didn’t want to defend the demon, so he wasn’t going to, but having Tyler angry made him feel less comfortable.

Tyler sighed, furious with Brendon. If anyone had seen that, Brendon would have to owe him big time to make up for the embarrassment. 

The rest of Panic!’s set seemed to go on just fine after that, Brendon still in control by the time the show ended. He made his way back to Josh once Dallon got off stage.

“Ready to get going?” Josh asked, assuming it was still Blurry in charge. Brendon nodded in response after winking at Dallon, which he could barely even see behind the sunglasses that he was still wearing. But Dallon got the hint, and he rolled his eyes in response. Brendon followed Josh over to their dressing rooms to gather up their things before heading to the car to head on back towards the hotel.

As they were driving, Josh figured it was as good a time as any to ask Blurry a few more questions about himself. “You don’t need to wear the sunglasses anymore, dude, it’s just us.”  
Brendon hesitated a moment, knowing for a fact that Blurry’s red eyes wouldn’t be making an appearance.

 _Just have him think it’s me._ He heard Tyler in his head, deciding that was pretty much the only option they had. _I’ll even feed you responses._ Brendon agreed with that course of action, that being the best way to pull off being Tyler; he’d just mimic everything he tells him.

 _When are we going to let him know I’m here though?_ Brendon asked in return, not wanting to act like Tyler until they were separated. He wanted to be himself again.

_Later, but just do what I say for now._

Brendon took off the glasses, looking at Josh. “Don’t worry, just me.”

Josh looked at him, no longer seeing the red eyes that seemed to signify Blurry. “Tyler?” Brendon nodded in response. Josh sighed quietly, having been looking forward to getting to know Blurry some more, but he guessed it wouldn’t be the last time he’d see him. “So, uh… How did this end up happening, dude?”

Repeating what Tyler told him to say, Brendon answered, “It’s really a long story, bro. It’d probably be best to wait until we get back to our room or something.” Josh unfortunately had to agree with his friend. It’d best to wait until they could sit down and actually explain things. It wasn’t that long of a ride back to the hotel, Tyler telling Brendon to talk about how he enjoyed playing the show tonight ‘despite the mishap at the end’. It seemed to work, and Josh wasn’t aware that it wasn’t Tyler he was talking to. He really wanted to find out how this happened, but he knew he had to wait for them to talk it out.

It wasn’t long before they reached the hotel room, and as Josh opened their room door, Tyler found himself finally in control once again. He took a sigh of relief; it would be much easier to explain the whole situation this way.

They took a seat down on one of the beds, and Tyler sent a quick text Dallon's way: _Gonna be explaining to Josh, come down when you can?_ Dallon could probably explain certain parts better than he could.

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler and Dallon explain things to Josh, Brendon's a whiny bitch, and Blurry appreciates his friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know a lot of this is recap, but we didn't want to just skip over Josh's involvement. <3 Thank you for reading!

Tyler sighed, trying to think of where to start. "I guess I should start with how Blurry came to be?" He suggested, and with Josh giving a nod, he went to continue on. "Blurry is basically what's known as a Tulpa." The drummer gave him a quizzical look, unsure what that word even meant. "A Tulpa is a being that comes into existence through many people believing that it actually exists."

"That's pretty cool." Josh commented, "did he come around because of the new album and the songs?"

Tyler shrugged. "I think he's been around for a while, but only really more noticeable due to that, yeah." Josh nodded, allowing Tyler to continue his explanation. "Usually Tulpas aren't that big of a deal. Y'know, Bigfoot and all that kind of stuff are usually considered to be Tulpas, but, uh, since it was common belief that Blurryface was a being that lived in my head, that's where he was formed I guess." Josh nodded again, seeming to understand it a bit better now.

"And is that what's causing you two to switch out like this?"

Tyler hesitated a minute, trying to think of how to go about this. "Yes and no. He stayed dormant in my mind for a while, until this morning." Josh sensed there was more to this situation, so he stayed quiet and let Tyler explain further. "There was a, uh, another factor that came in today. Blurry was affecting my thoughts a lot this morning, and you were asleep so I went to go seek out Dallon to see if he could help at all. And, well, Dallon wasn't there, so Brendon answered instead."

Josh got the feeling that that's when things started to go awry. "Did something happen with you and Brendon?"

"Kind of. He offered to help, and well he wasn't doing a great job of it."

_I was doing an amazing job, you dick._

Tyler ignored Brendon's comment as he continued to explain to Josh what happened. "He then tells me that he's a demon and he could possess me and turn Blurry off so I wouldn't have those worries and stuff. I didn't know that Blurry was a real thing, so I accepted without really thinking--"

"Wait up, a demon?" Josh looked at Tyler in total confusion, wondering why he glanced over such an important seeming detail. "Brendon Urie, lead singer for Panic! At the Disco? That Brendon? A demon?"

"Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction too, dude. But seeing as I'm in the situation I'm in, you could tell he wasn't lying about that, yeah?"

Josh nodded slowly, still trying to grasp the fact that one of his friends had been a demon and he hadn't even known that. "He doesn't look like a demon."

"Well, yeah he does once you see him for what he is." Tyler shrugged, used to seeing the horned Brendon now that he'd been seeing him nearly an entire day. "But, I agreed once he explained what he was going to do and stuff." Tyler sighed, still regretting that decision. "And, as I said, if I had known that Blurry was an actual being living in my head I never would have agreed to that, because Brendon was saying he'd destroy him and all that type of stuff. Thought he was talking more in the sense of destroy the idea of the fears and insecurities and stuff, I dunno, maybe I just wasn't thinking." Tyler shrugged again.

"And I'm guessing Brendon failed in getting rid of Blurry, yeah?"

"He would have succeeded if I didn't stop him. Uh, when he possessed me we were like, standing in my mind. I dunno, it's strange to explain. Blurry told you a bit what it's like there right?"

"Yeah, seemed kinda lifeless by the way he described it."

Tyler nodded and continued. "Brendon was about to get rid of Blurry, and suddenly I woke to a huge headache, and Brendon was still in my head with Blurry." Tyler shook his head and corrected himself. _"Is._ _Is_ still in my head with Blurry."

Josh didn't understand that part at all. His brow wrinkled in confusion. "He was out performing tonight, what do you mean he’s still stuck in your head?"

As if on cue, they heard the door knock, and Tyler excused himself to go and answer it, finding Dallon on the other end. "Just in time, bro."

Josh was quite lost at this point. Just in time for what? “Dallon? What’s up?”

Dallon sighed slightly. What a day they were all having. “Uh, Tyler asked me to help explain everything.”

“Y-you mean, you knew about all of this?” Josh asked.

The bassist nodded. “I’m afraid I’m actually pretty involved.”

“Wait, wait, wait. So, I’m the only one who didn’t know?”

Tyler suddenly felt incredibly guilty. “I.. we were hoping for a quick fix, but.. It really didn’t work out like that. That’s why I didn’t tell you.. I didn’t want you to worry about something if Dallon could solve the problem.”

“Ok, alright, wait. Back up. Dallon, how can you solve the problem?”

Dallon really didn’t want to admit it to a second person in just one day. But he really didn’t have a choice. It seemed like he didn’t have much of a choice in any of that today. _Thanks, Brendon._ “So, Brendon’s a demon, I assume Tyler told you that.” Josh nodded. “I’m, kind of.. kind of an angel. I’m here to keep Brendon in line. But naturally, I was gone for thirty minutes and he found trouble. So, I’ve been working on a way to fix it.”

He waited on a reaction from Josh, but he seemed kind of frozen in place. Demons? Angels? Tulpas? He could barely believe what he was hearing. After a couple moments of silent shock, he managed to come back into the moment. “So, but, how is Brendon still in Tyler’s head? I just saw him like an hour ago.”

Tyler remembered what Brendon had called it. He looked at Dallon. “It was a mirage, right? Brendon noticed. He thought it was genius.”

Dallon nodded but directed his answer at Josh. “The Brendon you saw onstage was made of white magic. I’m guessing Brendon saw _right through_ it.” Dallon smirked. He made the best jokes.

Tyler nodded. “Literally, yes.”

Josh was having trouble wrapping his head around all of this information, and Tyler could tell. That was where he was just this morning. Tyler scooted over a little closer to Josh. “You okay, man?”

Josh nodded, albeit hesitantly. “I, yeah. I think so. I mean, if you can understand all of this, I can. It’s just.. a lot.”

Tyler smirked. “You’re telling me.”

 _Can we get back to me?_ Tyler heard Brendon. He rolled his eyes at the voice in his head.

“So.. Yeah. I’ve got Blurry up here. And Brendon too.” He tapped his head. “And Brendon is stuck.”

“Wait, but, has Brendon ever been...” Josh motioned to Tyler’s body. “out here?”

Dallon wanted to burst out laughing at the visual that came to mind. He stifled a giggle, and Tyler shot daggers at him with his eyes.

“Yeah, more than I care to admit.” he paused. “Including the car ride back to the hotel.”

Josh furrowed his brow. “But- I thought that was you?”

Tyler shook his head. “It was Brendon. I mean, granted, I told him what to say word for word, but still.. We couldn’t just come out with that after you’d just seen him in concert. We just had to stall until we got here. I came back just as we got to our room.”

“...Okay. But, then.. why is Brendon stuck? What does that mean?” Tyler looked to Dallon for him to answer.

“Uh, Tulpas are made of dark magic, the same stuff as Demons. Long story short, like repulses like. But because Tyler here is human on the outside and only half on the inside, Brendon can’t finish possessing him, but he’s a good 3/4ths of the way there. And if he can’t finish entering, he can’t leave. It’s also why they’ve been switching back and forth. The line between mind and body is perpetually being crossed by Brendon’s half possession. It’s like a landbridge, it allows access of the body to the mind, and vice versa.”

Josh closed his eyes, going over this new information.

Tyler spoke up in the short silence. “We’re gonna fix it. It’s.. it’s just gonna take a while. So we’ve been trying our best to make everything work in the meantime.”

Josh kept his eyes shut but nodded. Dallon, quite frankly, was just glad no one made a big deal about him being an angel. _And honestly,_ he thought, _It’s kind of nice to have a few more friends to confide in._

Internally, Brendon and Blurry merely watched as their story unfolded out in front of them. As Blurry watched, he wished so badly to be sitting next to Josh again. He wanted to get to know him on his terms. And Blurry wanted to be known properly. Before he knew it, Tyler and Blurry switched during the silence. Dallon noticed immediately, as Blurry held himself completely differently in comparison to Tyler and Brendon. But surprisingly, his eyes weren’t red this time.

Blurry spoke softly. “J-Josh..?”

Josh opened his eyes and looked at him. He thought for a moment. “Tyler..?” Blurry shook his head. “I didn’t think so. Hey.” he greeted him. “Your eyes are brown this time.” Josh pointed out.

“Are they..? That’s... a good thing.” Blurry said. But Josh shook his head.

“I like it better when they’re red. That way I know it’s you.” He smiled warmly. “You doing okay..?”

“Yeah, actually. I’m.. I’m a lot better.” Blurry thought for a moment. “Why are you being so kind to me?” He asked. He redirected the question to both men present. “Why are either of you being so kind?”

Dallon responded first. “Because you’re my friend, man.”

Josh echoed the sentiment. “You’re my best friend. And I can tell you’re scared. And I know how I want to be treated when I’m scared and worried. Tyler’s always been extremely good for me, you deserve at least that much respect.”

Blurry honestly didn’t know how to respond, other than squeak out a small “Thank you..”

Dallon smiled and stood. “Alright. It’s really late, and I have some things I need to work on for you three before I go to bed. I’m going to go back to my room.”

Blurry nodded. “Alright, um, see you tomorrow morning?” He asked.

“Yeah, hopefully with a solution to this mess.” Dallon smirked.

“Thanks, Dallon.” Josh said. “For all of this.”

Dallon nodded. “It’s my job. I like my job, but it’s my job. I’ll see you guys later.” He made a peace sign and left to go back to his room.

Blurry looked over to Josh. “If you’re tired, we can go to bed..”

Josh grinned. “Or we could hang out a bit first.”

“What, uh, what would you want to do?”

The drummer laid on his back and stretched out. “I dunno, man. I could get to know you better, we could play Mario Kart, both, neither.”

 _Dude dude do both you should totally do both._ he heard Tyler tell him. It sounded kind of fun, even if he wasn’t that good at the game. “Just a couple races, okay?” Blurry smiled.

Josh got up and turned the game system and the TV on, handing Blurry the second controller. They each picked their signature characters and Josh picked an easier stage. As the countdown started, he asked Blurry a question. “Okay, so, I gotta know. If you’re formed by belief, why are you so different than how Tyler described you before he met you?”

That was a really good question. Blurry’d given it a lot of thought over time, but he could only ever guess at the answer. He pulled himself into 5th place as he responded. “I don’t know for sure, um, but I’ve always thought.. maybe Tyler’s subconscious knew.. that, that I wasn’t actively trying to beat him down.. I mean, I’ve.. I’ve been around for a while, now.” He shot a red shell at the Toad in front of him. “At- at least since you guys toured for Vessel, to some extent. I mean, it feels like I have. And really, I’ve mostly been lonely..” He brought himself up into 3rd. Josh had a strange way of making him talk. He was anxious, sure, but not nearly as much as he usually was. He actually felt really comfortable.

Josh glanced over at him for a moment before returning his attention to his 6th place Toad. “Hey, man, your eyes are red again.” He said, grinning. He liked seeing Blurry a little closer to who he really was. It also helped him to remember to not call him 'Tyler.'

“Th-they are? Why do they keep doing that?” Blurry got a little worried. He’d have to have his sunglasses on his person all the time just in case this happened more anywhere other than with Josh.

Josh shrugged. “I barely know anything, I think. I still can’t wrap my mind around Brendon and Dallon.” He remembered Brendon was there with them. “By the way, how is the guy?”

_Fuckin’ bored, man._

“He’s, uh, bored, apparently. I-I mean, I would be too if I were him.”

Blurry ended up coming in 2nd place, and Josh didn’t do too bad, landing 4th.

“Not bad, bro. And you guys don’t have any way to switch out on command?”

Blurry shook his head. “Not that we’ve found so far.”

Josh thought for a minute. “You said there was like, a mind space or something. You can’t just think things into existence, can you?”

“Not in my experience.. it’s always been the subconscious.”

“Dang.” Josh picked the next race. “Too bad.” The race started and Josh pulled himself into 1st place, Blurry in 3rd not too far behind. “What’s it like there? Aside from like, the way it feels?”

Blurry shrugged. “It was always kind of like, an oasis, in the middle of the desert. When Brendon and Tyler showed up, this weird auditorium appeared. It’s where we’ve been watching everything when we’re not out here. I don’t know. I think it showed up for Brendon, ‘cause I’ve never needed to actually watch anything to see what was going on. I just.. I don’t know, kind of saw it at the same time I saw the oasis. It’s.. really hard to explain.” Blurry had been knocked back to 8th place by 3 red shells and a well-placed banana. Josh was fighting back and forth for 1st place with Peach. As Josh was coming to the finish line, Peach hit him with a green shell, and he ended up coming in 4th place, with Blurry finishing in 6th.

“Come on!” Josh laughed. “That’s not fair, I was that close!”

Blurry smiled. “Just be glad you were playing with me.”

Josh grinned at him. “You’re definitely not Tyler when it comes to Mario Kart.”

Tyler smiled internally. He was still the undisputed king of the Karts. More importantly, they were getting along. Blurry seemed really relaxed, which was good. _Maybe that’s why his eyes are red?_ Tyler thought. _Maybe it happens when he's relaxed or completely worked up. One extreme or the other. Makes as much sense as anything else today._

Josh yawned. “I hate to do this to you, bro, but I’m really, really tired. I would imagine you are too.”

It hadn’t even occurred to Blurry how exhausted he was. He’d never been exhausted before. But now the idea of falling asleep sounded really, really good. “I think I am, yeah.”

Josh turned off the N64 and the TV and went to brush his teeth. He wet a hand towel and tossed it over to his red-eyed friend. “Don’t forget about your neck and hands, dude.”

“Oh, right.” Blurry took the towel and worked at the makeup on his neck, seeing the black come off onto the towel. He continued until he couldn’t seem to get any more makeup on the towel, and when he wiped his neck, the clean spots stayed clean. He got up after Josh finished brushing and taking his eyeshadow off to go wash his hands, but when he saw himself in the mirror, he realized his neck was still blackened. He washed his hands anyway, wondering what would happen. He saw the paint on his hands slide off and go down the drain, but they remained the dark color they were. He looked at himself curiously in the mirror. He looked like himself, he couldn’t complain. He would rather look the way he was supposed to than pass as Tyler, at least around the few people he had learned he could trust. He grabbed a pair of lounge pants and changed into them, leaving his shirt off. The black on his neck ended just at the collarbone, fading back into his normal skin color. He walked back to his bed, Josh already laying down on his own. Josh looked at him. “Black not coming off?” He asked.

“I think.. what’s left is just me. The paint is off, though.”

Josh nodded in understanding. He reached up and turned his light off, and then looked at Blurry. He smiled softly. “I’m proud of you, dude. You have a lot of courage.”

“..A lot of courage?” Blurry looked at him incredulously as he sat on his side of the queen bed.

“To talk to me. To Dallon. To have gotten through today.”

Blurry looked down. He never would have considered himself brave. If anything, he felt the exact opposite.

Josh could tell he wasn’t used to compliments. “You’re better and braver than you think you are. Remember that.” He smiled at him. “Night, Blurry.” He turned away from him and went to fall asleep.

Blurry remained on the edge of the bed for a few minutes.

 _He’s right, you know._ he heard. It wasn’t Tyler, it was Brendon. _You’re really not so bad, man. You’ve gone through a lot today. Now go to bed, we all need rest._

Blurry nodded in agreement, before remembering to actually respond. _Alright, yeah. Sorry.._

He pulled open the covers and laid down beneath them. It was really comfortable and warm, which was new. He reached and turned out his light, and fell asleep soon after.

 

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brendon's an asshat but it leads to some good things. Josh dreams of tacos and cats, but then doesn't.

When he had fallen asleep, he ended up back inside Tyler’s mind, and it appeared that the hut that he had taken residence in earlier was reformed, this time with three beds in it, however, so each of them could rest. Brendon was already laying down, looking about ready to head to sleep, and Tyler looked over to Blurry with a small grin. “So, this was an interesting day for you, hm?”

Blurry nodded, taking a seat on the free bed. “I’d only seen it all through your eyes. I didn’t think I’d actually ever get a chance to, I don’t know, live it?” The real world, the world outside of Tyler’s mind, was absolutely wonderful. Overwhelming, yes, but so much more interesting than staying in here for the rest of his existence. He still hadn’t been lucky enough to try food or drink, but he figured that tomorrow was another day and he’d get a chance to, if Dallon didn’t already have a solution. Speaking of.. “What do you think Dallon’s going to do about this? I mean, uh, he’s obviously planning to get Brendon out, but what.. what happens to us?” _What happens to me?_

Tyler frowned and shook his head. “I don’t know. Brendon is the key to us switching out, he said…” He didn’t want to condemn Blurry to the life he’d been having, just staying in his mind with no interaction with the outside, but he had no idea how he would go about changing that without Brendon’s presence. He wouldn’t mind to continue switching out with just Blurry, given they could control when it happened, since the Tulpa seemed to be more happy and interested in the outside world, and he didn’t want to keep that away from him now that he knew that he was a living thing. 

Blurry sighed quietly. He figured he knew how this was going to end; Brendon was going to get out, and things would go back to exactly how they were before this ever happened. Sure, Tyler might be aware of his presence now, but it wouldn’t make a difference. Tyler wouldn’t be able to come back here without Brendon’s help, and he’d just end up forgotten about in the end… He should have figured as much. _I’m not worth the trouble. They’ll move on…_ Blurry tucked himself into the bed, his gloomy mood having returned with his thoughts.

“We can ask Dallon about it tomorrow. If he could figure out how to get Brendon out, I’m sure he could figure out how to keep this exchange going on, yeah?” Tyler tried to reassure him. The only answer he got from Blurry was him turning over in his bed away from him. He sighed, deciding that they wouldn’t do any good by worrying about it now. They’d ask tomorrow. There had to be some sort of solution to this where everyone ended up happy… And with that thought, Tyler willed himself to fall asleep, hoping for some good news in the morning.

After resting for a while, Brendon had awoke, in Tyler’s body, and he looked over to the time. It was still rather late in the night, but he felt wide awake. He took a deep breath while he could do so without pain. That was refreshing. He figured the other two were still soundly asleep in their mind, seeing as no one was yelling at him for being awake at this hour. The demon sighed as he stretched out, feeling so bored without anything to entertain himself. Josh was still soundly asleep too, so it wasn’t like he could bother him for attention. Well, maybe he could. If he could still use his magic in this form, he could definitely have some fun, but he wasn’t too sure if they worked in Tyler’s partially possessed body. He could probably use some, he guessed, just not the stronger magic that warranted a finished possession. So, it wouldn’t hurt to have some fun, right? Brendon grinned, glad that Dallon wasn’t here to keep an eye on him so he could easily get into some mischief. He looked at Josh, an easy target. What could he do? He thought for a little bit, his mind going through some things that he figured he’d pass on for the sake of not being totally mean to the guy. After giving it some more thought, he decided on something. Josh seemed to be interested in what it was like inside Tyler’s mind space, right? The demon could probably easily pull the drummer’s subconscious into their mind, since the fact that he was asleep left an easy opening. At least, if his powers worked. And hopefully, this meant that Josh wouldn’t get stuck in there with them too, because if he woke up he would just jump back to his own body again. It’d be like a really cool dream, nothing wrong with that, right? Besides, it’d keep him busy and he didn’t like being bored, so it was a win-win: Josh got to see what was up in Tyler’s head and he got to be entertained. Brendon turned over to face Josh and reached over, lightly putting his hand against Josh’s forehead, trying not to wake him. It seemed to be fine, so Brendon continued, letting the magic flow to his hand to pull Josh into their little party in Tyler’s mind. The more the merrier right?

Josh’s dream had shifted rather dramatically, from the usual tacos and cats he dreamt of, to what looked to be some sort of desert. It seemed barren and just… not right. Josh looked around in a bit of confusion and nearly jumped when he saw the creature standing beside him. Creature? Was that a good word for what he saw? He looked kind of like Brendon, but also at the same time completely not. “...Brendon?” He’d guessed, hoping for some sort of answer.

Brendon gave a grin in response. “You wanted to know.. what Tyler’s mind was like, right?” He asked, sounding just a little hoarse. Josh gave him a look of confusion again before taking another moment to look around. A desert… and there it was, the oasis that Blurry had mentioned, off in the distance a little ways. Was this really Tyler’s mind? It seemed… rather empty for someone so creative.

“Is this a dream or…?” Josh started, looking at what he assumed was Brendon. 

“Yes,.. and no. You’re still asleep.. but I pulled you in here. It's fine,.. you’ll be able to leave when you wake up.” Brendon was still rather happy at the fact he could use some of his powers through Tyler’s body despite it not being a full possession. Made him feel a little bit more like himself that way. 

“You, uh, look different.” Josh remarked, addressing Brendon’s totally different appearance.

Brendon just shrugged in response before grinning at him a bit slyly. “What, like what you see?”

The drummer tried to resist the urge to roll his eyes, not really fond of that side of Brendon directed towards him. Seeing him act that way to others was fine, but he felt a bit uncomfortable when the tables were turned. “So where are Tyler and Blurry?” He asked, avoiding the question.

Brendon made a motion towards a small looking hut a bit in the distance. “They’re still asleep.” 

It was now that Josh noticed the markings around Brendon’s neck, getting the feeling that they probably weren’t a part of his friend’s demonic form. “Hey, where did those come from?” He gestured towards Brendon’s neck. “They look painful.”

“Oh, yeah... those. Got into a... bit of a fight, but... it’s okay. They hurt but,” Brendon shrugged. He hadn’t really given them much thought. It was painful to turn his head sometimes, but his dark magic was doing a pretty decent job at keeping the worst of it at bay.

“A fight?” Josh raised an eyebrow, hoping he would expand on that a bit.

“Well, er… when I first got… into Tyler’s mind to go and… get rid of Blurry…” Brendon nervously shrugged again, figuring that Josh could put the rest of it together.

“Blurry did that to you?” Josh couldn’t imagine the timid man he’d met hurting anyone like that.

“Oh God, no. I did… it to him.” The demon took a breath before continuing, seeing Josh’s growing confusion. “I went to go and… fix it… because I’m such… a good demon like that.” Brendon grinned and went on. “I was able to… transfer his injuries over to… myself.”

“You did that to Blurry?”

Brendon nodded. “But it’s… totally fine now--”

“Why would you do that to him? What made you think to do that? What had he done to you to deserve it?” Josh asked harshly, not liking how Brendon had handled it.

“I…?” Brendon wasn’t expecting any backlash from the drummer at explaining what he’d done. He’d done good! He fixed his mistake, even Dallon was proud of him for that! “Tyler wanted…-”

“But then didn’t he tell you to stop?”

Brendon hesitated, shaking his head, then nodding. “Y-yeah but-”

“Then you should have stopped. Blurry wouldn’t have had to deal with that pain, and neither would you, and you wouldn’t be having trouble speaking now.” Josh was more than a little angry with Brendon. He was starting to see now why exactly he was a demon, and not just due to his current appearance.

Brendon was at a loss for words, unsure how to react. Dallon had praised him for fixing his mistakes, why was Josh acting the opposite? He could have just let Blurry deal with those wounds on his own, but he was nice enough to take them for himself! 

Josh shook his head, seeing that Brendon wasn’t grasping what he did wrong. “He shouldn’t have had those bruises to begin with, regardless if you decided to give them to yourself afterwards.”

“Josh, it’s fine.”

Brendon and Josh turned towards the voice, seeing Blurry standing there, looking rather frightened by the way they were acting. “He hurt you and you’re saying it’s fine?”

“We fixed it, it’s in the past now.” Blurry shrugged meekly. Brendon had shown him that he was sorry for his actions, there wasn’t much a reason to be angry at him anymore, even though he'd still prefer not talking to the demon if given the choice. Sure he still didn’t trust him much, but that didn’t warrant that sort of attitude. “He didn’t know I was me, that I was still part of Tyler.”

“Destroying him… would have meant destroying a… part of your best friend’s mind…” Brendon cut in. “Yes I should have… listened to Tyler when he’d told… me to stop, but… I don’t know, I just… Tyler had made the contract..” The demon took another breath, the bruises hurting a bit more the more he tried to speak. “And.. you don’t.. get to go back on a contract.. Just because you don’t.. want to anymore..”

“We didn’t know what was going on, it was an accident.” Blurry finished for him, seeing the slightly pained look in the demon’s eyes.  
Josh stood there frowning, disapproving of Blurry defending Brendon’s actions. He’d hurt him, and he was trying to now help him defend himself? It didn’t make much sense. “If you’d killed Blurry, you would not have only gotten rid of a life, but damaged Tyler.” Josh gathered, understanding even less why Blurry would be defending him if he could have completely ended his life and hurt Tyler in the process. 

“It’s the past.” Blurry said again, “The worst didn’t happen, we shouldn’t stay angry at what we can’t change…” He sighed. He should start listening to his own advice. “We’re all okay and alive, that's enough right?”

The drummer still didn’t like learning the events that had transpired, but since Blurry was insisting that it was okay, he had no choice but to let it go. “If you say so.” He looked over Brendon who was rubbing at his neck a bit to try and alieve the pain. He supposed the demon did at least make an attempt to fix what he did, so it could have been worse. Josh took a breath to calm himself down before deciding to look around at the desert again. “So, this is really Tyler’s mind then?” He'd asked, changing the topic.

"Yeah, pretty cool... Mmm?" Brendon smiled a bit, glad that was over, as he looked around too. "A lot better than the... usual things I see." The demon hadn't possessed a ton of people, but most of the people that he had done it to usually went with some variation on a basic office-like setting for their mind space, which was an obvious choice because it 'kept everything organized' or whatever. Tyler on the other hand went basically the opposite direction: an ever changing desert, and at the center, a fountain of life. He liked that about Tyler, he always seemed to go the least expected route.

Josh nodded, thinking it was pretty neat. It made sense to him at least. In his songs, Tyler would describe his mind as a desert, so it shouldn't have been too much of a surprise that this was how it looked. "Is Tyler still asleep?" Josh asked, getting a nod from Blurry in response.

"He's probably more exhausted than we are, I would guess. It's both his mind and his body that are tired." Blurry said, looking back towards the hut he came from.

Josh nodded in understanding, being able to at least understand that much of this whole situation. It must really be taking a toll on Tyler, he guessed. If he was in the same situation he'd likely be totally exhausted as well; having two other beings living in your head, not being able to control when and who got to take control... He was already exhausted from just learning about it all. "And you guys have no idea how to switch at will?"

The other two both shook their heads. "No, we haven't been able to figure that out. We only just learned that we can communicate with each other right before the concert started." Blurry said with a frown, which reminded him he might not be lucky enough to switch out before Dallon found a cure. The idea of a cure rather scared him. While it'd be great for Brendon to get his own body back, and Tyler to not need to keep switching out, Blurry didn't want to go back to a life of sitting and watching again. Now that he'd had a taste of the real world, he wanted to learn more about it.

He wanted to keep Josh as a friend.

 


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Solutions?????

Josh woke with a start, thrown out of sorts by hearing Tyler's phone buzz with a text alert. It was not even a second later when Tyler had awoken too, followed by a groan.

"It's like five am, dude..." Looking over to the clock confirmed his beliefs. "Geez..." He yawned and looked over to Josh tiredly. "It's me, by the way."

"Tyler?" Josh confirmed, wanting to be sure he was right. Tyler nodded, checking the message on his phone.

"Dallon says he found something that could help."

 _Well why are we still sitting here then?_ Tyler heard Brendon's voice echo in his head, a little clearer than the day before. He sighed again, still extremely tired but knowing that this was important to check out.

"Let's go visit then." Josh suggested, sitting up. Tyler sighed, wishing that he could head back to sleep.

Remembering what Blurry had said about how taxing it must be on Tyler to keep up with all the switching, Josh felt a bit bad for him. "You still look pretty tired. If Blurry came out, wouldn’t you be able to get some rest for once?" And with that, as if on some strange cue, Josh saw the black markings appear around Tyler's neck and hands.

"I.. Hey." Blurry shrugged with some confusion, wondering why Tyler wasn't out for long. Maybe they had switched due to fatigue or something. Still, a bit of an odd coincidence. They didn't give it much thought though, Dallon's findings being a bit more important.

Blurry grabbed a shirt and put it on, and soon he and Josh were out the door heading again for 306. He sulked slightly, not sure if he wanted to hear the news. _At least I’m out again before everything goes away.._ he thought. Josh caught on to his mood and put an arm around him.

“Hey, things’ll be alright, dude.” Josh tried to comfort him, but Blurry just sighed and kept walking. It wasn’t long before they arrived at Dallon’s door. Josh knocked quietly, making sure not to disturb any neighbors this late at night. Dallon opened the door quickly, ushering the two inside.

“Sorry it’s so early, guys.” Dallon apologized. “I know you had a long day.”

Blurry shrugged in resignation. “It’s important.”

Dallon could tell the Tulpa wasn’t feeling too well. He didn’t want to explain the solution to him and make him feel worse. “Maybe I should wait and talk to Brendon. I don’t want to have to explain myself twice just because he wasn’t listening the first time.” Okay, that was only partially true. As he said that, however, Josh and Dallon saw the black markings fade into nothingness and Tyler's body straighten in confidence. Brendon stood there, confused. Something weird was going on. But now wasn’t the time to go over that. If Dallon had found a solution, they needed to hear it. He shook his head and blinked a couple times. 

"Okay, talk to me."

Dallon decided he would address that later. That was too coincidental. First, he had some explaining to do. “Brendon, I’ve found something that might work. But we need everyone’s cooperation.”

Brendon nodded. “Okay, man, what is it?”

“It’s a suppressant Talisman.” Brendon raised his eyebrows. He knew what that meant, and he knew it was going to be a hard sell.

 _What does that mean?_ Tyler asked him.

“So like, specifically for Blurry, you mean?” He knew he couldn’t outright tell them just yet. He had to have more information first.

The angel nodded. “Just for weak dark magic.”

Brendon thought for a moment. “...how long would it last?”

Dallon sighed. “At the strength it is, anywhere from a couple of hours to a couple of.. couple of days.”

 _What. Does that. Mean?_ Tyler insisted.

Brendon looked down momentarily, then back up at Dallon. “We need to explain it to them, Dal. We can’t leave them in the dark on this.”

Dallon nodded, then looked at Josh, and then back to Brendon. “The Talisman will allow Brendon to finish possessing Tyler, and subsequently leave. That, thankfully, will only take a minute or so. Unfortunately, the white magic is quite potent. The effects _could_ last longer than you want them to. Far longer.”

Josh spoke up. “Ok, but how does it work?”

“This is.. the part that won’t be pleasant. The way it works is that it suppresses dark magic. It’s an incredibly useful tool when it comes to preventing possession or, in stronger Talismans, ceasing a haunting or ridding demons from your presence." Brendon shot a dagger or two at him, half smirking. "In our cases.. it’s only strong enough to suppress Blurry.”

 _Suppress me..?_ Brendon heard Blurry.

Brendon gave voice to his concern. "What do you mean by suppression?"

Dallon answered. "You would need only wear the Talisman long enough for Brendon to get out, but the effects could linger. It would.. For lack of a better word, remove Blurry from this plane of existence, but only for a short time. It would be, to Brendon's abilities, as if Blurry were not there altogether." Dallon explained. He tacked on, "Blurry would _not_ stop existing. He would be able to come back. We just.. Wouldn't be able to tell when, exactly."

Blurry didn't like the sound of that. What would happen to him really? What would it feel like? He supposed he didn't have much of a say in the matter. Brendon couldn't be stuck here forever, and he barely deserved the freedom he'd had to begin with.

There was a small moment of silence before Josh spoke up. He looked to Brendon. "How does Tyler feel about it?"

"I don't feel like we have much of an option, at this point." Tyler spoke before he realized he was out. Josh and Dallon stared for a moment. "Okay, this is getting weird."

Josh spoke to Dallon. "Something like that happened in our hotel room earlier."

Tyler shook it off. "We can talk about this later. We'll do what it takes to get Brendon out," he said. "But what will happen after? I can't force Blurry to live alone like before. I can't ignore him now that I know he's there."

Dallon nodded in understanding. "I.. Don't really have a solution for that yet. We might not even need one. I can't be sure what your mind will be like once Brendon gets out and after Blurry returns."

Tyler understood. _I think that's as good as we'll get for now. I'm sorry, Blurry._

"As for acquiring the Talisman itself, that won't be a problem. I'm capable of making them. I just made one a few years ago for Patrick.." _Crap._

"Patrick Stump?" Josh asked.

Dallon shook his head. "Please, forget I said that. His business is his business."

Tyler and Josh shot a glance at each other but didn't pursue the matter. Dallon was right, it wasn't their business to know.

Dallon sighed, thankful he was dealing with two of the more respectable people this could have happened to. "That's basically it. The talisman itself is already made, It just needs to charge for a while. Once it's ready, we'll be able to fix this mess."

Tyler sighed, relieved it wouldn't be much longer until Brendon was back in his own body. He liked the guy, but his constant presence made him nervous. Still, he worried about Blurry.

"Onto the next topic-" Dallon began. "You've been switching out differently."

Tyler nodded. "It's felt different, too, man. Like normally it's really not noticeable, but this morning it felt like I was pulled out, or something. Not that it hurt, it just felt forced."

Dallon furrowed his brows. "Do you mind if we try some experiments? Any of you?"

Tyler got the okay from both parties. "You have a green light, I guess."

"Alright, but first I need to talk to Blurry." Dallon saw Tyler's eyes change quickly to red.

"Uh-I'm," Blurry noticed where he was. He looked at Dallon. "I'm very confused."

Josh caught on, he thought. "I think.. Is it us?"

He paused. "Brendon,-" he began. Before he got to the next word, Blurry's eyes darkened once more, and he was sure he'd figured it out.

"Dude, Tyler was right. That one felt weird." Brendon said.

Dallon smiled. "We may have solved part of your problem."

"You think it's whoever is asked to come out?"

The angel nodded. "At the very least, if it's one of us, it seems to work."

"Shit, that's helpful. I'm not gonna analyze how. Just don't fuck with us about it."

Josh had to mentally remind himself that Tyler hadn't just swore. It sounded completely wrong coming out of his mouth.

It wasn’t quite ‘controlling’ who was active, but it was definitely an improvement than the random switching. It would have been nice to know that for the concert, Josh thought, but it was a bit too late for that.

“In any case, the talisman should be good to go by lunch, at least, I think.” Dallon said, “So by the time we get to the next gig, hopefully things should go back to normal.”

Normal… Blurry didn’t like that word. Normal meant a time when he wasn’t even known about. Even if Dallon said the talisman would only suppress him for a while, and he’d be back once the effects wore off, that didn’t necessarily mean that he would still be able to communicate with Tyler. He’d just be stuck in his mind again…

“Hey.” Tyler saw the worry on Blurry’s face, and he put a hand on his shoulder. “Even if the worst does happen, I won’t forget you.”

Blurry looked down, appreciating the gesture, but it wouldn’t be the outcome he wanted. It was probably selfish to want to keep switching like this with Tyler, but he just didn’t want to be trapped anymore. “Thanks…” Blurry sighed, tugging his hoodie over his hands in worry. There was so much left that he wanted to do before he might not get a chance to do it anymore.

“Hey, Blurry?” Blurry felt a tug, and looked up to see himself back in the real world again, Josh’s words having ‘summoned’ him. “Did you want to get some breakfast?”

 

 


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blurry tries food? For the first/last time? He really likes orange juice. Oh yeah, also, things don't necessarily end on a positive note. (This isn't the last chapter though don't worry)

Blurry’s eyes lit up a bit. A chance to actually taste something, to enjoy food. He nodded in response, making Josh smile. The drummer didn’t want Blurry to leave either, now that he knew that he was real, that he was part of Tyler; so in case it didn’t turn out the way everyone wanted, he thought Blurry would at least like to try some food.

They left Dallon’s room, who had told them he’d let them know as soon as the talisman was ready for them to use, and headed towards the lobby of the hotel, where there was a complimentary breakfast served for guests. It wasn’t a huge selection of food, nor was it exactly high-end, but it did have a bit of variety for Blurry to try: bagels, cereal, danishes, that sort of stuff. Blurry was a bit overwhelmed by the choices though, deciding first to get the orange juice that Dallon had promised him yesterday. Ever since he had heard him mention it, he’d really wanted to try it. He grabbed a cup of that, and with Josh’s suggestion he grabbed a bagel with cream cheese, and a cinnamon-roll-looking danish before going with Josh back to their room.

When they got back, Blurry decided to start with taking a sip of the drink. Josh was watching, rather excited for him to have his first taste of food. Blurry wasn’t sure how to describe the drink other than the fact it completely exceeded his expectations. He was used to a world where everything was for the most part lifeless and dreary, and just the one sip of the orange juice was the exact opposite. It put a smile on Blurry’s face as he drank more of the cold drink, still loving to experience something as hot and cold rather than just… there.

“Well?” Josh waited for Blurry to say something, but just by looking at the other’s face he could tell that he really seemed to enjoy it.

“It’s great! I mean, uh, I don’t really have anything else to base it off of, good or bad, but…” Blurry looked down into the nearly empty cup, smiling a bit again. He was glad to be able to try this. He just really hoped that this wouldn’t be a last meal, so to speak. He decided to next move onto the bagel, setting the cup down on the side table beside the still untouched danish. Unsure whether to go at it with both halves together or just one at a time, he decided on the latter, setting the other half aside as well before taking a bite into the remaining one. The bagel itself didn’t taste too particularly interesting, kind of dry, but the cream cheese on top was cold and gooey, which took him by surprise, not really knowing what he expected. It took him a bit to get used to the mouthfeel of it, chewing it unsurely. Watching, Josh couldn’t help but be reminded of a dog with peanut butter and tried his best not to start laughing. Blurry finally got it down, deciding that it wasn’t particularly bad, but just different. He took another sip of the juice, putting the bagel down and going to start on the danish, wanting to try them all before he actually went to finish any. It definitely smelled good. It felt warm and smelled sweet. Blurry bit down into one of the sides, and it seemed to melt in his mouth. It was sort of gooey like the bagel had been, but not to the same extent. Sticky was probably a better word. But it tasted what he could assume to be sweet, which he really enjoyed. The warm sweetness of it made him go in for another bite, really liking the taste.

_Holy fuck man, you’re making me hungry, just finish it already, dammit._

Hearing Brendon’s voice shook him out of his daze, and he smiled over at Josh. “Thank you for this, really.”

“Thank the hotel, they provided it.” Josh laughed. If he thought free hotel food was good, wait until he actually tried a real meal. Blurry continued to work on the danish, deciding to pass on the bagel for now. Once he’d finished eating, Josh suggested that they should get packing to make sure they didn’t miss their flight, which was scheduled to leave around noon.

They were nearly finished with packing when Tyler’s phone chimed with a message. Looking at it, Blurry saw that it was Dallon. “He says the talisman should be good for us to have now…” Blurry wasn’t sure how to feel. Did that mean that all of this was going to end soon? Being out in the world like this? There was no guarantee that once Brendon left that this could keep up. Brendon _was_ the tool to switching out, after all.

“It’ll be alright, bro.” Josh gave Blurry a hug, seeing the distress in his eyes. “Brendon will be out and I’m sure you and Tyler can figure out how to keep this exchange going.” Blurry sighed, appreciating the words but thinking the worst already.

“Let’s go check it out then, I guess..”

It didn’t take long to make it back to Dallon, and when they knocked he opened it right away. His and Brendon’s things were already packed away, he having done it with ease without Brendon’s distracting self around. “Here we go.” Dallon held out a pendant hanging from a string. The pendant itself didn’t seem all that extraordinary. It was dark, carved from wood by the looks of it, with sorts of different symbols etched into it that Blurry couldn’t even begin to understand.

“This should do it…?” Blurry took the talisman from Dallon, holding it by the string carefully. It admittedly scared him, thinking that this would all end soon.

Dallon gave a nod, and hesitated for a moment before speaking. “For your own safety though, I would suggest that as soon as Brendon makes it out, take it off.” He had a feeling there would be some lasting repercussions for not keeping the talisman on longer than that, but if Blurry wanted a better chance at surviving and being able to go out into the world again, that would be their best bet.

That much at least made sense to Blurry. He looked at Josh, worried that this would be the last time he would see his friend, but he knew this had to be done for Tyler and Brendon’s sake. He was meant to be destroyed anyway, so if he didn’t make it then nothing was lost to them, he figured. Blurry took a deep breath before putting the pendant around his neck, and as soon as it touched the skin of his neck, Tyler was immediately put back into control.

“Blurry?” Josh got worried, thinking that really was goodbye.

It took a moment, but Tyler finally heard something. _It’s alright… I’m still here…_ Tyler sighed quietly in relief. “He’s alright, he says.” He chose not to let Josh know the fact that Blurry sounded a bit pained already. Josh sighed too, relaxing a bit.

"We should probably get going, don't wanna miss our flight." Dallon grabbed both his and Brendon's luggage, Josh offering to help since Brendon had a bit much for one person to handle.

It took two trips to get everything to their cars, but once they did they headed off towards the airport. Tyler felt a bit odd, not hearing much from either Blurry or Brendon. It should have been normal to not hear them, but it worried him a bit. Especially about Blurry. Tyler looked down at the pendant hanging from his neck, really hoping that it didn't hurt Blurry as much as he was fearing.

Meanwhile, Brendon was taking it upon himself to watch over Blurry. The Tulpa was laying down, huddled up in his hoodie. It didn't really hurt an excruciating amount or anything, but he felt uncomfortable and weak.

"It'll be okay, dude. I'll... get outta here and you and Tyler... and Josh can all live happily ever after." Brendon tried making a joke, but Blurry didn't seem to be in the mood. After a while of silence, he finally spoke up.

"I-I'm tired of being told it's going to be okay..." Blurry turned to face Brendon, who was sitting on the end of the bed in the hut. "It isn't. I'm not a kid, I can understand when it's my time..."

"Don't think that way, man." Brendon frowned, deciding to lay in the bed beside him. "I know that... I'm not exactly the person you want to... Hear it from, but you are important." Blurry turned away from him again, wishing that this could just be over with. "You're still Tyler, dude.. You're every bit alive as... Him or me or anyone else." He continued. A Tulpa is a living thing. That was the difference between that and a sort of imaginary friend or whatever. Tulpas can lead lives of their own, people can see them, they breathe and live and exist. He would reiterate this to Blurry if it still didn't hurt to speak. But all he could really do was wait for him to fade away so he could get out and hopefully make it go by as quick as possible. "Hold onto the will to... Keep living, or else you'll already... Be looking at the end, dude."

Blurry just wanted Brendon to shut up and stop. He could speak all he wanted, but that didn't change what was going to happen in the end.

_A little help here, Tyler?_

Hearing Brendon's voice made him worried. Help? With what? Was Blurry okay? _What is it, what's going on?_

_Your Tulpa is sulking._

Tyler frowned at the way Brendon put it. Blurry shouldn't be upset. They were going to fix this and get him active again and things would be okay. _Blurry, it's going to be okay we're fixing-_

 _Just shut up!_ The intensity of Blurry's demand took Tyler off guard, not having expected him to act that way. _It's not okay! Brendon is going to be free, you're going to get on with your life, and I'm going to just vanish!_

Tyler hesitated. _We don't know for sure if you're going to vanish so-_

_Please, Tyler. Just... Just stop._

Tyler grew more worried at hearing the defeat in Blurry's tone. With that kind of attitude, Blurry wouldn't stand a chance to stay. He needed to stay positive, which Tyler imagined must be difficult if not impossible for Blurry to do. Blurry personified all of his negativity, it wouldn't be a surprise if he couldn't make himself think positive thoughts. _No, I won't stop, because you're important. I need you, Blurry._

_You're better off without me..._

By this time they'd arrived at the airport, and Tyler got out of the car, trying to focus on his conversation with Blurry as he gathered up his luggage to bring in. _I'm nothing without you._

_You're lying, stop lying._

Josh noticed that Tyler looked distracted, and he figured something was up. He grabbed his wrist to get his attention, and saw the worried look in Tyler's eyes. "Is Blurry...?"

"He, uh, isn't handling this well..." Tyler managed to say, still trying to talk to Blurry. _Please believe me, dude. You. Are. Needed._

_Stop it... **Stop it!**_

Tyler wanted so badly to go in there and let his friend know that he meant what he said, but this thing that was causing the pain to Blurry was preventing them from switching out and in. _Blurry, listen to me._

_I said stop..._

_You're important. I need you._ Tyler grew more and more worried with each response Blurry gave, having a hard time focusing on anything else, like walking to the bag check. Luckily Josh understood what was happening and was leading him along gently by the arm. 

_You don't... You... You really... Don't._

Tyler heard Blurry's voice getting quieter, unsure if it had to do with him giving up on himself or if it had to do with the talisman's power. _Listen, Blurry..._ He felt Josh lead him to a bench to wait while he handled the bag check, and he sat down, more preoccupied with Blurry than anything else right now.

_No, y-you listen... Realistically, you and I both... We both know that I'm not going to... Going to 'make it out fine'... So-so just... Just leave me be..._

Tyler shook his head, stumbling up to try and find somewhere a bit more private to handle this, not wanting to cause a scene or anything. He found his way over to a bathroom, closing the stall door behind him so he could get a bit of quiet and just focus on Blurry. _No, we aren't sure of anything. You aren't going to disappear and be forgotten about, that much I know._

_No..._

Tyler felt another headache, wondering if it was just all this activity that was causing it. _Blurry, seriously listen to me. You're important. I need you. Josh needs you. Blurry, I love you and you aren't going to be going anywhere, please trust me on this._

There was no answer this time around. Tyler was wondering if Blurry was just ignoring him, but he heard Brendon's voice cut in. _...he's gone. Let's hurry._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yikes. Sorry guys. I know it's not like, super feelsy, but this is a TERRIBLE place to leave off and we are NOT sorry. xoxo


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One problem solved, the team moves on and hopes for best case scenario.

Tyler hesitated. Gone? Just like that? _I... yeah.. the-the sooner the better. Do what you need to.._ Tyler had picked the handicapped stall so they had more space. He wasn’t sure what had to happen. Honestly, he just hoped it was nothing like an exorcism. He felt himself fade into the background, not into his mind space like before. Brendon was definitely in control, and it was definitely just them. Tyler could barely feel his limbs acting on Brendon’s command. _Now this is a possession!_ the demon beamed. He watched as his own hands erupted in a strange, dark power. _Don’t worry dude, I’ll be out in a minute. I just need to compose myself. When I finish a possession, I have a little magic explosion, and mine’s been building up since yesterday. It’ll be done soon._

Tyler just waited patiently for it to be over. The sooner he could get the Talisman off, the better. He just wanted to see Blurry safe again. It was all he could think about.

Brendon soon felt his magic relax, and he began the process. Slowly, Tyler felt himself come back into the foreground. As it happened, a large cloud of strange, purple smoke rose from his feet and shaped itself into Brendon. As it cleared, Tyler could see his horns form, then disappear, his skin returning to its human color, and his jawline softening. At first, his eyes were closed, but when the smoke had dissipated completely, they opened and Tyler could see they were once again brown. The bruising around his neck was still prevalent, but at this point it had softened to a sickening green. Brendon smiled at him. “All done. You’re on your own, now.” His voice sounded alright, Tyler guessed it was just surface bruising left.

Immediately Tyler removed the Talisman and shoved it into the pocket of his backpack. “Don’t remind me.” he said, grimly.

Brendon realized what he meant. “Shit, sorry.. I.. I didn’t mean-”

“I know. Let’s just get out of here and get this thing to Dallon.”

Tyler opened the door to the stall, relieved no one was in there with them, as they left though someone did go in the restroom, so they were lucky to have gotten that done quickly. He was expecting to hear Blurry's voice, but he'd heard nothing by the time the two of them returned to the bench Josh had left them at. His headache was fading, at least.

"He'll come back, dude." Brendon tried to reassure him as Josh came back.

"It worked I see?"

Tyler nodded, still feeling rather down about the fact he hadn't heard anything from Blurry. He can't be gone...

"Let's go meet up with Dallon, yeah?" Brendon suggested, standing back up and offering Tyler a hand. The man unwillingly stood up as well, not really in much of a mood for chatting.

The three of them made it through security check just fine, and found Dallon waiting for them at the terminal.

"That worked pretty fast." Dallon commented at seeing Brendon, who grinned at him in return, glad to have his own body back again. Dallon went to give his friend a hug, and in turn Brendon grabbed him tightly, kissed him hard on the cheek, and basically spun him around, despite their height difference.

"Glad to see me again, mm?" Brendon's grin grew as he waggled his eyebrows at him, which just got a laugh out of the angel. "Missed me?"

"I admit, things do get boring without you around." Dallon said, giving him another squeeze before letting him go and turning to Tyler. "And what of Blurry...?"

Tyler shrugged and shook his head, looking down. "I don't know."

"You'll hear from him soon. He's strong, he'll make it through." Dallon tried to convince him. He knew Tyler wouldn't believe it until he saw Blurry again, so his words didn't have much of an effect on him.

Tyler sat in silence, which he no longer really enjoyed, as they waited for their plane to come in. Josh tried talking with him, but it was pretty obvious that Tyler wanted to be alone for a bit, as he had put up his hoodie, so he respected his wishes.

Dallon and Brendon had made their way over to Kenny and Dan, who Dallon had sent ahead of them with the excuse of Brendon forgetting something at the venue, and said they’d detour and meet up later.

When the airplane finally came into the hangar and they boarded, Tyler tried to will himself to fall asleep, just wanting the time to pass by so he could see Blurry again.

He passed out. Only, he didn't wake up in his mind space. He dreamt. Mostly he dreamt of nothing, of a vast expanse of lightless space. He dreamt of the feeling of loneliness and sorrow. Somewhere, though, tucked away in all of that darkness, Tyler was sure he had seen the outline of his friend. Some sign, maybe, that he was alive. But he awoke without incident, having had nothing change; except perhaps his heart felt a bit heavier. Josh saw him wake up.

"Anything..?" He asked hesitantly. Tyler just shook his head. How long had he been asleep? He checked his phone. Three hours. He felt defeated. He felt like a murderer. He felt like a back stabber. He sighed. _I love you.. I'm sorry.._

His loneliness lingered for a time. It didn't take long, however, for it to be broken. _I love you too, Tyler._ It was faint. Very faint. But it was there.

 _You're alive!_ Tyler's mood changed instantly. _Oh, thank God. Blurry, I- I'm sorry._

_Did Brendon get out safe..?_

_Everyone is safe._ Tyler could have sworn he felt Blurry smile somehow.

_I-I can't see anything yet.. I just know I'm still around. Thanks to you._

Tyler's breath faltered momentarily. _Thanks to me..?_

_I wouldn't have found the strength if I hadn't heard you tell me you loved me._

_I need to tell everyone you're okay. They need to know._

Tyler focused his attention back to the airplane, pulling down the hood of his hoodie. Josh looked over to him. "Ty..?"

"Blurry's alive."

Josh smiled. "He made it."

Tyler started grinning widely. "He's alive, Josh!" Tyler knew it was only half the battle, but it was the most important half.

Josh tapped Dallon on the shoulder in front of him. Dallon and Brendon turned around to see them better.

Tyler spoke excitedly. "He's alive. He did it." He beamed.

Dallon spoke. "He's unharmed?"

"He sounds okay. Just very weak."

Brendon nodded. "It might take a while for him to regain strength. But at least he's alive."

Tyler nodded. It’d been barely over twenty four hours, but Blurry had become crucial to his existence, to his sanity. He owed Blurry his life, he felt. _Don’t worry, Blurry.._ Tyler thought to him. _You’ll be out here again. I promise._ Tyler felt Blurry give a sigh. Slowly, he was understanding how he had influenced him from behind the scenes before. Now, he had a better connection, and a better understanding, and Brendon wasn’t there to mask it. It no longer felt like strange moods would come from out of the blue. He knew Blurry. He could feel Blurry’s presence.

He didn’t want to lose it.

_Tyler.._

Tyler laid back in his seat and closed his eyes, giving his attention to his red-eyed twin.

_I trust you._

He couldn’t help but smile. “I’m going to try to take a nap. Wake me up when we’re going to land, okay?” Tyler asked Josh, peeking at him with one eye, who then smiled and nodded.

 

This time when Tyler drifted off, he found himself with Blurry, but the desert they were in before seemed different. It seemed more empty than before, just sand and sand with no break in it. Blurry looked about as good as he had sounded when they were talking, obviously weak from vanishing and returning. At seeing him, Tyler went over to him and gave him a tight hug, which was gladly returned by the Tulpa, albeit a lot weaker than the other.  "I told you I wouldn't let you disappear." Tyler held him out at arm's length.

Blurry gave him a weak smile, just so glad that Tyler really did care, that he did mean what he'd said. He took a seat on the sand, not having much energy to continue standing for much longer. Tyler sat beside him, keeping close to his red-eyed other half. "I'm so glad you're okay..." Tyler had been thinking the worst after not having heard from Blurry after the whole ordeal. Blurry gave a smile in response again, allowing himself to relax in Tyler's presence. He leaned against his friend and closed his eyes.

"I'm... I'm sorry for having, um... Having doubted you..." Blurry managed to say after a few minutes of quiet, referring back to the exchange they'd had before he vanished.

Tyler shook his head and put an arm around Blurry's shoulder to give him a feeling of safety. "It's alright, you don't need to be sorry."

"Either way..." Blurry looked at Tyler. "Even if I can't... Can't switch with you again, this... This is still nice..." Just being able to talk and communicate with Tyler was more than he thought he deserved. Sure, being able to experience the world again would be most ideal, but he could settle for not being totally alone. He didn't want to be alone, trapped, again. He'd experienced that for far too long.

Tyler smiled and relaxed as well, deciding if this was as far as they could go communication-wise, it was better than nothing. He still wanted Blurry to be able to experience the world again though, so he wasn't going to be giving up on that chance for the other.

"Would you, uh... Thank Josh for me... For everything he's done?" Blurry asked Tyler. If he wasn't able to speak to Josh directly again, he wanted to be sure that his new friend knew how much he appreciated his efforts to make him happy.

Tyler shook his head. "No." Blurry was rather thrown off by the answer, looking at Tyler in confusion. "You'll be able to tell him yourself. We aren't giving up here." Tyler assured him. "You'll see him again, I promise."

Blurry had a feeling telling him that it was an empty promise, but he appreciated the gesture. He was trying to cheer him up, so he had to at least thank him for that. Blurry sighed and closed his eyes again, still leaning against Tyler quietly. He was slowly starting to feel better, a bit more like how he was before, but he did still in the end feel too weak to do much more than stay there beside his counterpart.

Tyler didn't mind the quiet this time around. He knew Blurry was still there, so he wasn't worried. The quiet felt nice now. It wasn't an awkward sort of silence or anything, just the two of them enjoying each other's presence.

After a little while, Tyler noticed that Blurry had ended up falling asleep, the two of them still close together. As the time went on though, Tyler found himself drifting off too, and he finally let sleep come to his mind, resting easy knowing that Blurry was right there with him. 


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> :)))))))))))))))

As the following weeks went on, Tyler put his focus on watching Blurry recover. He and Josh had just done another performance and went back to their dressing rooms to wait for Panic! to follow, Tyler took a quick nap, those becoming very common recently so he could visit Blurry. His mind space was starting to return to the state he'd remembered it being, the oasis and the hut having come back into 'existence' at one point. Tyler made his way over to the hut to check on Blurry. Already, he'd starting seeing an improvement in the other's health. It started with him being able to walk on his own just fine, and most recently he'd seemed to have gotten the full strength of his voice back.

"How're you feeling, dude?"

"Better still." Blurry responded at seeing his other half head into the hut. He'd grown more accustomed to Tyler's frequent visits that him just showing up didn't frighten him or catch him by surprise any longer. He loved it when Tyler visited. It was a lot better than just talking to him while he was active.

"That's great." Tyler grinned and sat beside Blurry. If there were a time that Blurry was maybe able to take over, Tyler was hoping it would be soon. He did seem to be gaining his strength back steadily, so it could easily be any day now that Blurry could go back into the world. Against both of their wishes, Tyler had been denying more recovery information about Blurry to Josh, not wanting to be a message man between the two of them, and knowing that when Blurry finally was able to take over, it would just be that much sweeter for both him and Josh.

"Thank you, again, really, for everything you've done, Tyler..." Blurry felt the need to say this every time Tyler came to visit, not knowing how else to thank him. He still felt he didn't deserve the chance to go back into the real world, not wanting to take away from Tyler by living through him, but Tyler kept insisting that it was okay and that he was fine to watch 'behind the scenes' as Blurry learned to enjoy himself. If it made Blurry happy to be out in the world, who would he be to deny him such a thing?

"Again, you don't need to thank me, man." Tyler laughed a bit, smiling at Blurry. "Do you think you're feeling well enough to maybe give it a shot?"

Blurry hesitated, unsure what to say. He did want to get back out there as soon as he could, but he had been constantly worried that going out before he was fully recovered would end badly for both of them. Tyler thought otherwise, but had respected his wishes. "I'm... Not sure." Blurry looked down at his hands, pulling at his hoodie anxiously. He very well could be ready to go out, but if he wasn't, what then? Tyler said he had no reason to be worried, but well, Tyler wasn't the one that had vanished for a few hours. It was a short period compared to the rest of his existence, but he never wanted to experience that again. It was just vast nothingness. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't see... He didn't want to go back into that kind of state, so he was overly cautious with almost everything.

"If it were up to me, I’d think you’re more than ready." Tyler commented, trying to convince Blurry to give it a shot. Blurry hesitated again, wavering with an answer. "If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. I won't let you go anywhere. And we'll keep trying until you can finally come back out."

Blurry bit at his lip as he thought it over. "I trust you, Tyler." He finally said, looking at him, the worry still in his eyes though.

"Really? You're gonna give it a shot?" Tyler asked, happy and excited for the news. Blurry gave a hesitant nod. It probably wouldn't work. It likely wouldn't work. But, he trusted Tyler when he said he wouldn't let him vanish again. He saved him many other times before, he couldn't help but to trust him once again.

"Y-yeah. Just one shot. If it doesn't work then-"

Blurry was cut off by Tyler waking himself up, excited with the news. It had only been a few minutes, but Tyler hurried towards Josh's dressing room to give him the good news, and hopefully this meant a result.

Tyler didn't even bother knocking when he barged in into Josh's room, who was in the middle of munching on some tortilla chips provided. "What's going on?" The drummer asked, seeing the excitement in Tyler's eyes. It took him a second, but he finally understood. "Is-is it Blurry?" Tyler nodded at Josh's question and grabbed one of the empty chairs set out and put it in front of Josh, sitting down in front of his friend.

"He wants to give a shot to coming back out."

_Don't get your hopes up, it-it probably won't work..._

Tyler waved off Blurry's worry, not wanting to hear any negativity now that they could be so close to what they all wanted. "Do you think you can try to get him to switch?" Hopefully the lack of Brendon's presence didn't affect the switching. He was lucky that he could still keep up communication with Blurry, so maybe this will work too if that had worked. Tyler sat, impatient and excited like a kid waiting to open presents on Christmas.

Josh sighed, admittedly having the same fears as Blurry had, but he figured he could give it a shot. "Hey, Blurry?"

Nothing seemed to happen immediately. It took a few seconds after though, and Josh saw Tyler's hands change to dark, and looking at his friend he saw the blackened neck where the paint had run off during the concert. And sure enough, it appeared the red eyes had followed once his eyes opened.

At opening his eyes, Blurry had expected nothing but failure, to be staring back at the wall of the hut, but before him he saw Josh sitting there. "Josh..." Blurry tried to keep himself composed, but the reality of the situation hit him, and tears of happiness started welling up in his eyes. "Josh, it-it-"

"It worked!" He had finished for the Tulpa, leaning over and giving him a tight hug. That was when Blurry's tears finally started to fall, and he held tightly back to his friend that he thought he'd never see again with his own eyes.

_What did I say, dude?_

"Thank you, th-thank you, both of you." Blurry said between sobs, still gripping tightly to the back of Josh's shirt as he cried against his shoulder. They didn't give up on him when he'd already given up on himself. "Thank you, thank you s-so so much..."

Josh pulled him tighter. “Anything, literally anything, for you, man.” He let the taller man cry against his shoulder for a few minutes, rubbing his back. He was so glad to have him back. He himself had prepared to do anything he needed to in order to see Blurry again. He wasn’t sure what that could have meant, but he knew he would have done it if it meant getting to spend time with the other half of his best friend.

When Blurry finally felt he could control his breathing again, he let go of Josh and looked at him, smiling and still not believing his luck. The voice on the loudspeaker let them both know it was ten minutes to showtime for Panic!, and Josh had a great idea.

“Blurry! We have to go show them!” He stood up and pulled his friend up, bringing him along by the wrist. They ran over to Dallon and Brendon’s dressing room, and could hear Brendon warming up his voice as Josh knocked on the door. After a moment, the door opened and both Dallon and Brendon looked at Josh.

“What’s up, dude?” Brendon asked him. All Josh could really do was smile.

“It worked.”

They both looked at him, confused for a moment. _It? What was “it?”_

Josh then pulled Blurry into view of the room, the taller man a little nervous about being back out in the real world still. Dallon’s eyes lit up, and he could see Brendon was smiling. Dallon repeated Josh’s words.

“It worked. It worked!”

Brendon clapped him on the shoulder. “You’ve certainly kept us waiting, man. What’s it been, like, a month? Why be such a stranger?” He joked.

Blurry laughed slightly, the man's appearance throwing him off a bit. It felt a bit safer to see him as human. “I didn’t have much of a choice, dude.”

“Dude?” Josh snorted. “You’ve been spending way too much time with Tyler in there, that’s for sure.”

“This means we’re all going out to celebrate after the show, right?” Dallon asked. “Where do you want to go for dinner, Blurry?”

Blurry knew exactly what the first place he wanted to eat was. “Um, Taco Bell.” He grinned. “It’s a favorite of Tylers, a-and I figure we have the same taste buds-”

“Taco Bell it is!” Josh beamed.

Dallon gave Blurry a hug as their five minute warning was heard on the radio.

“You’re obviously more than welcome to watch a real Panic! performance, tonight.” Brendon said, alluding to the last concert Blurry had watched of them, when Brendon was stuck inside their head.

Blurry nodded. _You sure you’re ready to handle this?_ He heard Tyler ask.

_I’m positive. Un-unless you want to come back out. I mean, it is your life, and all.._

Blurry felt Tyler shake his head. _No, man, it’s our life. We’re in this together._

“Come on dude, let’s go find a good spot.” Josh said, excited to spend some time with Blurry.

“That-That sounds good to me, let’s go.” He said, and he followed his friend.

::::

 

After the concert, the two went back to their dressing room to finish packing their stuff up. Blurry put on Tyler’s sunglasses and helped to put their things in their car, finding himself humming some of Panic!’s songs. _Hey, you’re not bad at singing, dude._ he heard Tyler.

 _We have the same voice, you dork._ Blurry rolled his eyes, shoving his bag into the trunk.

_Okay but that doesn’t mean you can carry a tune, which you obviously can._

Blurry paused. _What’s your point?_

 _None._ Tyler said. _Yet._

Brendon came over to their car from across the small parking lot. “Hey, still going to Taco Bell?”

Blurry nodded. “As far as I know, yeah..”

Brendon seemed much easier to talk to, now that he didn’t look like the demon he was. And chatting all the time with Tyler helped him to improve his social skills; something he had severely lacked on, given that he had never had much practice. He still wasn’t completely comfortable around strange people, but he managed to not panic or freak out. The demon smiled. "Well we're about to head out so we'll meet you there, okay?"

Blurry nodded, but Brendon lingered.

"Uh.. Blurry?" He started.

"Yeah..?"

"I'm.. I'm really glad you're back. I was.. I was worried about you."

"You were..?"

"Blurry, if my actions had ended up causing you to lose your life, or even meant you could never be out here again, I... Honestly I don't know if I could have lived with myself."

Blurry looked at him in confusion. "But.. You're a demon. Wouldn't you like, want bad things to happen..?"

Brendon shook his head. "I'm lesser, dude. I'm supposed to wreak havoc and be a bad influence. I'm mortal, and I have emotions. Which means I have friends, and Tyler is one of them." He paused for a moment. "And after all we had been through, I was willing to call you my friend, too. I.. I still am, if you'll let me."

Blurry was somewhat taken aback by this confession. He had thought the demon merely allowed him to live, that the Holy Wrath of Dallon had put fear into his heart. That he tolerated his existence because he had to. "I... Ah.."

"Think about it. I can't force you to trust me." Brendon turned to walk back to his band's van. He turned again briefly back to Blurry. "I'll see you guys at Taco Bell. Kenny and Dan wanted to go somewhere else so you'll probably get there first."

"Um, okay."

Brendon turned back around and gave a small wave behind him as he walked away.

Blurry frowned a bit, troubled by Brendon's request to be friends. How was he supposed to forgive him for nearly killing him? It was a mistake, yes, and he tried his best to correct it, but that didn't mean he was forgiven. He wasn't still angry about the incident, but Brendon's presence still made him uneasy, afraid that he'd snap and try getting rid of him again.

"Is everything okay?" Josh asked, breaking Blurry from his thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm fine thanks." Blurry gave Josh a smile for reassurance. And with that, they left to go grab some food at Taco Bell that both Tyler and Josh guaranteed that Blurry would love.

 

 


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blurry Tries Taco Bell! (And stuff happens)

They pulled into the parking lot and Josh shifted the car into park. He got out and started heading for the door when he realized Blurry wasn't behind him. Blurry was still in the car, sitting kind of quietly, which made Josh worry. The drummer went and opened the passenger's door. "Hey, man, you okay?"

Blurry vaguely shook his head. "I'm kind of scared to go in.."

Josh furrowed his brows. "How come?"

"What if they notice my eyes..?"

"Blurry," Josh began. "Everything will be okay. If someone does, just say they're contacts. You'll be fine. Come on, it's late, you've gotta be hungry. I know I am." He extended a hand.

Blurry took a deep breath and took it, getting up from his seat. They walked inside and got in the line, which wasn't very long.

"Um.. Wh-what should I order...? There are so many items.."

_Get a chalupa, bro. And some nachos while you're at it._

Josh shrugged. "Tyler usually gets a chalupa."

The lady behind the counter asked for their order. Josh spoke up first. He instinctively scratched his ear as he ordered.

"Uh, yeah I'll have a chalupa and like, 3 beef tacos. Um, and also a large drink."

The cashier nodded and directed her attention to Blurry. "And for you?"

"Uh, a chalupa, and some, um, some nachos and cheese, please."

"Anything to drink?"

"Uh, a large drink, thanks" Blurry remembered Tyler always got a large. She handed him the empty cup and Josh went to pay. "That's it?" Blurry asked him quietly.

He smiled. "Yeah, that's it. Go ahead and get your drink, man, I'll be right there."

Blurry went over to the drink machine. There had to be about fifteen different kinds of sodas and other drinks. He stood there, looking at everything, wondering what each one would taste like.

 _Go for the Baja Blast._ He heard Tyler say.

_Are you sure?_

_Dude **yes** you **need** this trust me._

Josh came up behind Blurry. "Hard decisions?"

Blurry turned to look at him and nodded. "Yeah, uh-"

Josh grabbed his cup. "Baja Blast." He said as he filled it with the blue liquid.

"Th-that's what Tyler told me to get."

Josh grinned. "Ty's a smart man."

He finished filling their drinks and they went to sit down. They were waiting for their food when Brendon and Dallon came in laughing at something on Brendon's phone. Josh stood and waved to them. “Hey, over here.”

The two men came over and sat with them, still giggling over whatever it was they had been looking at. Blurry watched them from beneath his sunglasses, thinking about how much Dallon trusted Brendon, even though they were, magically, polar opposites. How could an angel love a demon so much? And what got Dallon to trust Brendon? What did he see in him that Blurry just couldn’t? Surely they couldn’t have always been friends. There was no way.

“What’s up, dudes?” Brendon asked, still grinning stupidly. “Order something good for your first real meal?” He asked Blurry directly.

“Um.. Tyler’s favorite. And some nachos.”

“Sweet, dude. Hey, Dal, getting your usual?”

Dallon nodded. “Yeah, man. You gonna go order?”

Brendon stood up. “Yup! Be back in a sec!”

Josh heard their number come up as Brendon was ordering and stood to get their food. “Don’t try that drink without me, Blurry.” He smiled.

Blurry sat at the table with Dallon. It was quiet for a couple seconds, but Blurry had a question he needed to know the answer to. “Uh.. Dallon?” He started quietly.

Dallon looked up from his phone. “Yeah? You okay?”

“Um.. how- how do you trust Brendon so much? I mean, you being... what you are, and he being what he is and all.. like, shouldn’t you two be fighting?”

 _That’s a good question,_ Dallon thought. “It’s.. Well, it’s a long story. It was really difficult for quite a while, after... well, after we really met.” He looked Blurry over. Clearly, something was troubling him. He turned to see what Josh and Brendon were up to, and he saw them chatting, waiting for Brendon and his food. He figured he had a few minutes to talk to Blurry, and he turned back to him. “Can I ask why you’re asking?”

Blurry inhaled deeply. “Um.. I just.. I can’t forgive him for what he did to me.. I mean, I want to, but I don’t trust him.. But you do, and you know what he did to me, so there must be something, r-right? Something worth trusting him for?”

Dallon sighed. That explained a lot. “I know he can be... brash, quick to jump to conclusions, and downright mean, cruel, and just a little evil. But.. If there’s one thing I absolutely know for sure, it’s that he still cares. He will always come through for his friends,” Dallon paused. “And I know it seems like he has a lot of them, but.. The only people he really considers to be his friends, from what I’ve seen, are those from whom he asks permission. It's kind of a demon thing to do. You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours."

Blurry saw Brendon grab his and Dallon’s food and the two men started to walk back. “Thanks, Dallon..” He said quickly. He thought about what he had said. Was Brendon asking to be his friend his way of saying “I’ll protect you”? Or “I’m sorry, and I want to make up for it”?

 _I_ _know he hurt you. Bad. But.. consider his offer. He tries to be a good person, and he’s a crappy demon._ He heard Tyler.

_Did he ever ask you?_

_Yeah, he did._ _He proved he cared when he offered to help me, though it didn’t go the way either of us intended._

Blurry half chuckled, the guys sitting down with them at their table. _And you ended up with me._

He felt Tyler’s smile. _Best mistake I’ve made in a very long time. Now eat, dude, come on!_

Josh sat directly across from the Tulpa, unwrapping what Blurry figured was the chalupa. He'd seen Tyler eat this stuff all the time, but he never really paid attention when it came to food. For a long while, he was almost bitter about it, that Tyler could taste and smell and experience what he couldn't. Blurry breathed in the smell of the Mexican fast food. "That smells really good.."

The drummer just smiled and put the tray in front of him. "Chalupa or Baja Blast first. Your pick."

Blurry thought briefly, before deciding to try the chalupa. He was more hungry than thirsty, he figured, and it smelled really good. He picked it up and took a bite. _This is so much better than bagels and danishes._

_Told you you'd like it!_

Blurry smiled, mouth full of chalupa. He swallowed his first bite. "This is way way better than a hotel breakfast, Josh." He took another bite as his friend just laughed.

Josh was genuinely glad to be able to show Blurry some of what he considered to be the best parts of living. Really, he was just so glad to be able to spend time with him again after weeks of unsurety. Josh and the guys watched as Blurry ate bite after bite, finishing in what had to be record time.

The Tulpa smiled. "I like being alive. I like eating!"

 _Dude try the Baja Blast already!_ He heard Tyler remind him.

Josh must have shared the thought, as he pushed the drink right in front of Blurry and went to start eating his own food.

Blurry looked at the cup. He didn't have any idea what this would taste like, and he couldn't really smell it. He took a sip and suddenly he understood.

Over the course of the next fifteen minutes, Blurry excitedly tried small bits of everything everyone else had ordered. Tyler, meanwhile, was laying on Blurry's bed in his hut, watching his excitement, happy to see he was able to enjoy himself again. Even throughout Tyler's constant visits, Blurry had remained sure he would never be able to experience the real world again. Tyler had come to understand that even though Blurry had his highs, he was still at heart all of his negativity, his anxiety, his fears. He promised him he would give him as many good days as possible.

When they had finished eating, Dallon suggested that they head back to their hotel to grab some rest. Everyone seemed to be in agreement with that, even Blurry who admittedly still felt weaker than he would've liked to be before trying to take control. As they headed out the door, Brendon caught Blurry by the shoulder to turn him around.

"So have you given it some thought?" He asked, rather impatiently.

Blurry frowned at him and shrugged his hand off his shoulder. "It isn't really a decision I can make in just a short time."

"Why not? It's an easy answer, dude. The more friends the better." Brendon grinned at him, patting his back, which made Blurry instinctively cringe at having Brendon touch him.

"I-I understand it's in the past but I can't just up and forgive you." Blurry said, stepping away from Brendon. Being nearly killed wasn't something that was easily forgotten.

"Forgive me? But I already fixed the issue didn't I?" Brendon pointed at his own neck, the bruises pretty much non-existent at this point though. "I took your injuries as an apology. I thought we were all good. What's your problem?"

Blurry turned away from the demon, not wanting to continue this chat. Brendon was the one who didn't know what was wrong, he was the one with the problem here.

_Blurry, give him another chance to redeem himself. Brendon's really not a bad dude._

Tyler's words went unheard though, as Brendon grabbed Blurry's shoulder again. Before Brendon got a chance to say anything though, Blurry immediately spoke, "Do not touch me", clearly angry with the fact he kept pushing the subject. Rushing him for trust.

"Come on, dude, I saved your life didn't I?"

It was with those words that all of a sudden the visual that Tyler had been seeing shut down. It was just all dark, no sound. No contact to the outside. "Blurry what's going on?"

There was no answer.

"Saved my life?" Blurry turned to look at Brendon this time. "Saved my life?" He clenched his fists to try and dissipate the anger that had started to well up inside of him. He could feel an unfamiliar surge of power beat through his heart.

Brendon let go of Blurry, backing away a step with his hands held up as if he was surrendering. "I took those injuries away from you, man. If it weren't for me, you'd still be trying to heal-"

The next sequence seemed to happen in such a rush. The anger got the best of Blurry, and he sent a punch flying right towards Brendon's face, the only thing processing in his mind being getting the demon to shut up and stay away. But, his punch connected with the wall of the Taco Bell rather than his intended target, as Josh had quickly yanked Brendon out of the way at seeing their exchange and the way Blurry was reacting.

"Dude what the _fuck_?!" Brendon yelled at the Tulpa, who was still standing there with his fist nearly embedded in the wall. His sunglasses had fallen of and he could see his eyes were fueled with fear-induced rage. If Josh hadn’t stepped in, he wouldn’t have missed.

After a moment, he pulled his hand back, looking at how banged up his knuckles were now from hitting the bricks. Gashed, bloody, and throbbing with a terrible pain that probably meant something far more serious. Blurry ignored the pain, the adrenaline fueling him to look back at Brendon and Josh. The look that he gave the demon even frightened Josh, taken aback by the sudden violent behavior of the other.

"Blurry...?" Josh hesitated, unsure whether to console Brendon, or Blurry, or if he should just leave them both be.

Blurry stared at Josh for a good amount of time before he looked back down at his knuckles, still clenched into a tight fist. It took a long moment, but Josh's worry seemed to register to him, and he looked back at him, his expression having changed from rage to fear. "I..." he froze. What had he just done? He hadn't wanted Josh to get involved, this was between him and the demon.

 _Blurry what just happened?_ He heard Tyler's voice, filled with as much worry and fear as was what was being shown by Josh. Blurry unclenched his fist and nearly doubled over with the pain doing that had caused. The pain that he had experienced with the exchange in Tyler's mind space with Brendon seemed so insignificant now, the pain out here in the real world being ten times worse.

Tyler suddenly found himself in control again, which became evident with the dark marks fading away and the red eyes replaced with his usual brown. As soon as he was shoved into activity, he hissed in pain at the injury on his right hand before looking at Josh and Brendon with complete confusion. "What happened?" He held his right arm still, the severity of the pain telling him he likely broke or even shattered a couple bones.

"Couldn't you see what that fucking idiot did from your space?" Brendon nearly yelled, the fact his face had almost been the broken brick wall setting him more than a little on edge.

"N-no... It was like he blocked me out." Tyler looked down at his knuckles again, babying his hand as much as he could while trying not to throw up from shock. It took him a moment to regain his composure. "Did.. Blurry attack you?" He finally asked, looking at Brendon once again.

The demon nodded with a “fucking yes,”  as Dallon ran quickly over to the commotion. "What's happened?" The angel saw the damage done to Tyler's hand, and he gave Brendon an accusatory look, assuming that the demon had something to do with it. No one really knew quite what to describe to him. No one really understood what had gone on. _That's what I get for not keeping an eye on him, again._ “First things first,” Dallon gently took Tyler's hand, using his white magic to help speed up the recovery. He couldn't make the entire injury vanish, he unfortunately wasn't strong enough to do that, but the worst of the pain seemed to fade away as a warm light engulfed Tyler's hand, which also seemed to clean up most of the blood as well.

"Dallon, is it, uh, normal to have moments where I can't see or tell what's happening when Blurry's active?" Tyler asked the angel as he tended to the injury. That period of nothingness frightened Tyler. He had absolutely no control, and he couldn't watch what Blurry was doing. And it wasn't as if Blurry was asleep or something. That aloneness with absolutely no contact to the outside terrified him. Anything could happen. Anything seemed to have happened already.

Dallon raised an eyebrow at the curious question before shaking his head. "I'm not sure. As far as I know, all natural occupants of the mind space should always be able to know what's happening on the outside." He paused for a moment, then continued. “But to be fair, I’ve never seen an internal Tulpa. There’s a lot we might not understand. Why? What happened here?”

Tyler took a deep breath, holding his own hand with great care. “I wish I knew.”

_Blurry, what happened? Are you okay?_

It seemed Blurry still wasn't talking, at least that's all Tyler hoped it was, and not something worse.

After Dallon had allowed them to go, Tyler could see the angel definitely yelling at the demon for whatever had occurred. Tyler rubbed his head as he got in the car to go back to the hotel with Josh, who had been staying quiet since the incident. "Josh, what happened?" Tyler was basically begging at this point, wanting to fill that timeframe. He knew something happened between Blurry and Brendon, but maybe if someone could say exactly what happened before he was kicked out of watching, he could figure out what caused it.

Josh just shook his head. "I'm not sure. I saw Brendon harassing Blurry, and before I knew it he went to punch him, and I managed to pull Brendon out of the way." He frowned. Blurry's sudden attitude shift caught him off guard. The drummer had been so used to seeing the Blurry that was wide-eyed and amazed at the world, that seeing Blurry for what he had actually came into existence to represent surprised him. Blurry was supposed to signify all of his friend's negativity, and he'd just grown so accustomed to seeing a happy Blurry that he had forgotten.

Tyler frowned as well, still trying to contact Blurry but having absolutely no luck. “I’m going to try and talk to him…” He sighed, closing his eyes and trying to will himself to go to sleep so he could go to his mind space and go find Blurry.

 


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aftermath

Tyler made his way to the hut he usually found Blurry in, and he found a lump covered by a bunch of blankets on the bed. Assuming that could be none other than Blurry, he went to check on the Tulpa. The lump shifted at hearing the other's presence.

"Wh-what do you want...?"

"What happened back there, dude?" Tyler asked, going to pull the blanket from off of his face so he could see him, but Blurry kept his grip tight, clearly not wanting to look at Tyler, so he gave up on that.

"I... Brendon-he..." Blurry started, trying to think of what to say. "I don't know." He mumbled after a minute, still gripping the blanket tightly. "I hurt you..." Blurry felt horrible about causing pain to his other half.

"It's okay, Dallon helped." Tyler looked at his hand, which looked completely undamaged here opposed to in the real world where it was still rather gruesome to look at.

"But I still hurt you.." Blurry still refused to remove the blanket, ashamed to look Tyler in the eye.

Tyler sighed and stayed quiet, hoping Blurry would be ready to talk soon. After a few minutes, Tyler went to lift the blanket off again and Blurry let him, but still wouldn't look at him.

"Blurry, my hand is fine. Don't worry about that." Tyler assured him.

With that, Blurry finally sat up to look at him, his eyes puffy from the obvious crying he'd been doing. "I-I would say I was sorry for acting like that but.." Blurry wiped at his eyes, glancing away. "He would have deserved it..." The Tulpa looked down at his hand, which showed no damage either. "H-he deserved it." He repeated, with a bit more conviction.

Tyler sat next to his counterpart. “I know Brendon’s.. a bonehead. But-”

“I’m not going to forgive him.”

Tyler sighed. “I’m not asking you to. I couldn’t ask you to.”

Blurry looked at him. “I thought.. You wanted me to?” He sniffled.

“I do, but on your own time. I want you to give Brendon a second chance, and I want you to forgive him, but I will never ask you to do that before you’re ready..”

Blurry looked back down. “...He still scares me.”

Tyler tried to lighten the mood. “I think maybe you scare him, now.” he said, but it didn’t seem to improve anything.

Blurry didn’t say anything for a while, sitting quietly and thinking to himself. Tyler heard him mumble something.

“You okay..?”

“I’m not going out there again...”

Tyler looked at him with great concern. “Wh-why are you saying that? We just got you back, --”

“And I messed everything up.” Blurry finished.

“Blurry...”

“Well I did, didn’t I? I almost hurt Brendon, I worried Dallon, I hurt you badly, I frightened Josh, and I ran away. I’m as bad as I was always supposed to be. I’m useless and all I bring is pain..”

Tyler furrowed his brows. “Don’t you remember how happy Josh was to see you..? How much fun you had trying food? Laughing with them?”

Blurry shrugged. “Anomalies.”

“I don’t think so.” Tyler said, standing up. “What I’ve learned about you, Blurryface, is that you are a delight to be around, that you are filled with wonder, and that you deserve to experience as much as I get to experience.”

Blurry cringed when he heard his full name, but it did get him to listen. He sighed. If any other person had told him these things, he would have just brushed it off as a lie. But this was Tyler, _his_ Tyler, the one person who understood him best. And who he knew would never lie to him. At least, he liked to believe that was the case. It wasn’t always easy to trust him, but Blurry tried.  

Tyler extended a hand. “At least talk to Josh?”

Blurry looked at Tyler’s hand. “But..” He looked up to Tyler.

“He’s worried about you, man.”

Blurry hesitantly took Tyler’s hand, and as Tyler lifted him up, he found himself waking up in the passenger’s seat next to Josh.

Josh saw his eyes flicker open. “..Hows Blurry..?” He asked quietly.

Blurry rubbed his eyes. “I’m... I don’t know..” He answered very quietly.

Josh looked back at his friend, noticing his eyes were still brown. “..Blurry? Are you okay..? Your-your eyes aren’t red, um.. Sorry, I thought.. I thought you were Tyler for a second..”

Blurry looked away. He didn’t like being so uncomfortable, especially with Josh, of all people. “I’m sorry I frightened you..” he mumbled.

“Frightened..?” Yes, he had frightened Josh when he had punched the wall, but that wasn’t important to the drummer right now. “Blurry, what happened back there.. Don’t worry about it. It’s over, it’s done. Besides,” he added, “from what I saw, it looked like Brendon had it coming to him.”

Blurry frowned. “You have no idea..”

“You’re right, I don’t..”

Blurry sat up, using his hand causing him to wince slightly in pain. Tyler was right, it was a lot better than before, at least. He took a deep breath, releasing it with a heavy sigh. “He tried to kill me before, Josh, and now he expects me to just.. to just forget it? Just because he apologized and undid the damage?”

Josh shook his head. “That’s what he was harassing you for?”

Blurry nodded. “Yeah.. He said I should be thanking him... for saving me...” He was still mad about the encounter.

Josh nodded. “He deserved it, then.”

Blurry looked down in shame. “I don’t like how I felt..”

Josh glanced over at him. “What do you mean?”

“I felt.. like I wasn’t in control. Like I was.. like I was blinded by my rage.. I just.. I don’t ever want to do that again..”

Josh reached an arm behind his friend’s back to comfort him. “Everything will be okay. I promise, alright?”

Blurry glanced over at him and smiled slightly. Josh saw his dark eyes turn his regular red, his blackened skin returning as well. Josh pulled into the hotel parking lot, parking the car and turning the engine off. The two got out, Josh reminding Blurry to put on his sunglasses, and started heading to their room.

 _You feeling okay, man?_ He heard Tyler ask.

_Yeah.. I'm a bit better now..._

Blurry felt Tyler smile. _Good. You want to stay out?_

Blurry thought about it. On the one hand, he was still really unnerved by the whole situation. But on the other, he really liked spending time with Josh. He thought maybe he could leave it up to him. As they got to their door, Josh unlocked it and went inside, flopping onto the bed. "Hey Josh..?" Blurry started, sitting on the bed opposite him.

Josh looked at him, sitting back up. "Yeah?"

"Um.. Do you.. Do you want to hang out with me still or do you want to talk to Tyler..?"

The drummer raised an eyebrow. "Does Tyler have an opinion?"

_I don't really care either way, we're probably just going to go to bed soon anyway._

Blurry shook his head. "Not really, no."  

"Dang, well, I don't know. You're asking a hard question here, dude." Josh smirked.

"I am..?"

"Asking me to pick between my two best friends in the galaxy? Kind of not easy." Josh laughed a little. "Do I have to choose?"

"Well, I mean, no, --"

"Blurry," he interjected. "I haven't seen you in almost a month. If you have no problems with it, I would not mind being able to spend some time with you."

Josh really wanted to spend time with him? Even after what happened today?

“Are you sure?” Blurry asked, still feeling ashamed for the way he had reacted in front of Josh.

Josh nodded at him. “Dude, of course. You’ve barely been out since you’ve came back, enjoy it a bit.”

Blurry sighed, still unsure if Josh was really okay with it, but since he was insisting, he decided it couldn’t hurt to stay out.

_Hey, man, I’m actually going to go to bed. Have fun with Josh, okay? I’ll be here when you fall asleep. Tell Josh I said goodnight._

Blurry took a deep breath. _Alright.. Goodnight, Ty... Thank you.. again.._ Blurry brought his attention back to Josh. “Um, Tyler is going to go to sleep. He says goodnight.”

Josh pretended to yell back, cupping his hands around his mouth and whispering, “Night Tyler I love you!” He laughed.

Blurry smirked. He always liked how relaxed Josh seemed with Tyler. It put him at ease, something he needed desperately.

“Hey, I’ve got some questions for you, if you feel like answering.” Josh pointed at him, smiling and shifting his weight to face his friend better.

“Yeah..?”

“How has the last month been? Tyler wouldn’t tell me much, he always said a time would come you could tell me yourself. And, here we are.”

Blurry looked down. “Um, pretty.. pretty uneventful. Tyler always liked to keep me company, and-and when I could finally walk properly again, we would walk around the oasis and stuff.” he smiled. “Sometimes, we would find shells. Tyler always thought it was interesting, like our subconscious wanted to make things just a little more, um, exciting for us. He liked the idea that an oasis in a desert would have seashells. I mean,” He laughed. “There aren’t even any fish in the oasis, let alone sea life.”

Blurry went on to tell Josh about his recovery, how he enjoyed watching Tyler and Josh perform, and Josh sat and listened to everything. He watched as Blurry explained the past month, smiling widely at how animated he became, memorizing every word and detail, absolutely engaged and enjoying the sight of him grinning and laughing and telling his tale. He wondered to himself if Tyler would be able to see this, if he was actually asleep yet. He thought he might like to know how much Blurry had valued the time he spent with him. It was nice to see Blurry relax for once. Even comparing when they were eating at Taco Bell as opposed to now, Josh could see there was a marked difference in the way Blurry held himself. Around Brendon he seemed more than a little defensive, but when it was just the two of them, all of his defenses seemed to drop.

"I guess, looking back, it wasn't all bad. I know I can be a downer, and sometimes I think the future is extremely bleak, but.. I don't know. All of my memories in the past month are good." Blurry finished. "I guess Tyler helps bring out the best in me. I'm, uh, I'm just really sorry about today."

Josh smiled. “The past is in the past. I mean, we can’t ignore it, but don’t let it bother you too much, dude.”

Blurry nodded. “I’ll try. I’m not all that good at that. A-and I just.. I just realized how much talking I just did, and-”

“Blurry, I like listening. Especially to someone I care about as much as you. I missed a whole month of your life, I barely got to see you before your.. uh, disappearance. So yeah, I really enjoyed hearing about it. I like being around you.” He smiled at him, his eyes squinting just slightly.

“Um, th-thank you. I.. Thank you. It means a lot to me. Really.” He looked at the time. Was it really that late? “Uh, we should probably go to bed, right? You guys have a flight in the morning?”

Josh nodded. “You know, Blurry, you can just say ‘we.’ You’re part of Twenty One Pilots, too.”

This confused the Tulpa. “I.. what? No, that’s you and Tyler.”

Josh’s eyebrows went up. “Oh yeah?” Blurry nodded. “Then what’s the name of our album?”

“It’s.. Uh.. It’s.. Blurryface..” He answered, not exactly fond of hearing his full name in any capacity, let alone saying it. “But that doesn’t change the fact that there are only two members of the band, and that’s you and Tyler.”

“Hey, I’m not done. Ok, so you know the name of the album. But also, I want to ask you something else. Tell me, what’s your name?”

Blurry furrowed his brows in confusion. “It’s Blurry.. I don’t understand.”

Josh shook his head. “Your full name.”

“...Blurryface?”

He shook his head again. “Wrong answer.”

Blurry sat and thought for a moment. Josh sat and waited for an answer. After a minute, Blurry realized what Josh was getting at. “My.. full name, full name?”

Josh smiled and nodded. “The one and only.”

“Tyler Robert Joseph?”

“That’s what I wanted to hear. And tell me, who did you say was in the band?”

“You and.. you and Tyler.” Blurry was pretty sure he understood where Josh was going. “And I’m Tyler.”

“So that makes you...?”

“Part of the band..?”

Josh nodded, quite proud of his logic. “In two capacities. You’re the subject of an entire album, and you’re also just straight up a member. You’re part of Twenty One Pilots, Blurry.”

Blurry shrugged. “Well, okay, but I can’t perform or anything.”

“Well why not?”

Blurry gave Josh a look. “You’re kidding, right? Me? Perform? I can barely talk to people who aren’t you, Tyler, or Dallon. I-I freeze, I freak out, apparently, my eyes turn brown, I’m just not really cut out for this whole performing thing.”

Josh laughed. “Maybe not now, but I think Tyler wouldn’t mind if you wanted to try it sometime. We could figure out how to make you comfortable on stage.”

Honestly, the suggestion sounded appealing to Blurry. If he weren’t so afraid of everything, he probably would want to give it a try. But when he thought about it, it just sounded impossible. He could never be comfortable on stage. And he didn't really know how to play instruments the way Tyler did. Blurry yawned, really feeling the exhaustion of the day start to creep up on him. “Look, Josh, I’m not making any promises. But.. thanks for calling me part of the band.” Blurry got up and changed into his lounge pants, too tired to really worry about the makeup left over on his neck and hands.

“Just being honest. If you’re hitting the hay, I am too.” He said, laying down. “Goodnight, Blurry. Thank you for spending time with me. I know it’s been a long day.”

Blurry got under the covers and turned out the light, leaving them both in darkness. “Night Jish.” Blurry smiled to himself. “It’s.. really been a pleasure.”

Josh chuckled, already half asleep. “That’s Ty’s line..”

Before long, Blurry could hear Josh breathing steadily, fast asleep. It wasn’t long before he, too, succumbed to sleep.

 


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler and Blurry learn a bit more about what "post possession" living might entail.

Tyler awoke with a start at hearing his phone chime and buzz. At least this time seemed to be a normal time.

_Talked to Brendon. He knows what he did wrong. Also, he reminded me of something that I should let you know now that Blurry is back. Pop by when you get a chance._

Tyler set his phone back down, not really wanting to rush back to Dallon's hotel room, but that reminder could be something important. He looked over and saw Josh still fast asleep, so he decided to wait for his friend to wake before going to check out what the angel had to say.

Once Josh had woken up, about an hour later, Tyler let him know that Dallon had something to tell them and that they should head over again, so once they changed out of pajamas they went ahead to visit Dallon. Thankfully their room was just across the hall. He answered immediately, and it looked like Brendon was still fast asleep. Tyler felt a sigh of relief on Blurry's part.

_Good. I don't want to hear him._

"Brendon told me what had happened, and I'm pretty sure he understands now what he'd done wrong." Dallon started, glancing over at the sleeping demon before turning his attention back to Tyler and Josh. "And that experience reminded me of something that might be important to let you know. Here, come in." The angel offered them seats on the unoccupied bed, which they took. "There are some, ah, after effects that sometimes occur after demonic possessions."

_What's that mean?_

"..After effects?" Tyler questioned, echoing Blurry's own question. 

“When demons possess, and unpossess, their hosts, there’s, um, sometimes a burst of dark magic that gets left behind. In most cases, especially with lesser demons like Brendon, it goes untouched and unused by the host and fizzles away on its own, but, it might end up affecting Blurry and you in some way, due to the fact Tulpas are born from dark magic.” Dallon went on to explain. 

“Affect us how?” Tyler got a bit worried, wondering if that might have had to do something with the whole ‘blinded by rage’ thing that Blurry had done. 

“Well, it isn’t necessarily all bad.” Dallon raised an eyebrow. “It seems from what I saw yesterday that you two can switch out at will.”

Tyler gave it a thought, then nodded. It hadn’t even occurred to him that it had happened, but they had willingly switched positions without any outside force. “Is this going to fade away by itself?”

“I don’t know how much magic Brendon left behind, so I can’t say for sure. For higher demons the effects could last the host’s lifetime. And the fact that Blurry is there with you, that could change it too, since he could be contributing to the dark magic there without even realizing it. If you keep using it, it might never go away.” 

_What sort of bad stuff can happen?_ Blurry was worried that it could end up with him fizzling away with the dark magic if it ran out, and the thought of that scared him.

“So, uh, what sort of stuff could we expect to happen?”

Dallon shook his head. “I can’t say for sure, aside from the switching at will thing. I just would advise you to be careful and let me know if anything seems different or out of place. That way we can try to get whatever happens under control. This is still something that I haven’t seen before, what with Blurry being involved. If Brendon had possessed you and Blurry hadn’t been there, there wouldn’t be much of a reason to let you know because the excess magic would vanish on its own.”

Tyler sighed, not really liking the idea of not knowing what exactly to expect, but he supposed that he would just have to deal with it all as it came. Hopefully it wasn’t anything too bad, but demonic powers sounded like they would naturally come along with a lot of bad.

“Alright, we’ll keep you updated I guess.” He sighed again, frowning as he looked at Josh, who hadn’t really said anything. He was probably just taking it all in, thinking of possibilities. He hoped that whatever these ‘excess powers’ brought wouldn’t be a problem to his friend, or cause a threat to Blurry at all. It admittedly made him pretty nervous.  
At seeing Brendon shift in his sleep, probably going to wake soon, Blurry almost begged for Tyler to go, so he wouldn’t have to deal with Brendon again.

_Even if Dallon said Brendon knows what he did wrong, it doesn’t mean I want to talk to him again._

_I know, I know._ Tyler thanked and bid goodbye to Dallon and went back to his hotel room with Josh before there could be another incident between Blurry and the demon.

When they got back to the room, Tyler decided to grab his ukulele and strum a bit to pass the time before lunch as Josh busied himself with some more cat videos on his phone.

_Ah, Tyler, do... Do you mind if I try?_

At hearing Blurry express interest in playing, Tyler smiled and let the Tulpa have control, happy that he wanted to try it out. _Not at all, dude! Have some fun!_

Blurry thought it a relief that it really did seem that they could switch out whenever they wanted now, that way Tyler could let him know if he needed to do something himself and they wouldn't have to just convey messages back and forth to each other.

Blurry plucked a bit at the strings, trying to get a feel for how to even hold the thing. Tyler made it look pretty easy, but it was an awkward instrument to hold, and he barely understood how to produce the sounds that Tyler would always make. He knew the chords, in theory, but he had never actually played before. Hearing the difference in playing style, Josh looked up from his phone, smiling quietly at seeing that it was Blurry who was fiddling around with the little instrument. He chose not to say anything as to not distract or embarrass Blurry, so he just quietly listened to his attempts at playing something.

 _Don't try to do it like I do, man. Do it how it feels right to you._ He heard Tyler's voice say. Blurry took a moment to take a breath, trying to loosen up a bit and let it just 'come naturally,’ or however that worked. It took longer than he thought to get himself to relax, but he managed to find a position to hold the ukulele that didn't feel all too uncomfortable, and he went back to strumming it, a bit more fluid this time now that he'd gotten a handle on the basics. Josh closed his eyes and relaxed at hearing the Tulpa play Tyler's, rather, his own, instrument, figuring it wasn't bad. It sounded different than Tyler's playing, but it wasn't bad.

Blurry wasn't really trying to play anything in particular, just some chords, and a few minutes in, he was shaken from his relaxation by hearing a frantic _wait stop!_ from Tyler. Blurry hesitated, wondering if he was doing something wrong.

_Look at your hand._

Blurry frowned, wondering what he was getting at. Was he holding it wrong? When he looked, though, the sight frightened him a bit. There were small reddish purple flames coming from the tips of his fingers on his right hand.

"Wh-what is this?" Blurry quickly set the ukulele aside on the bed, seeing why Tyler wanted him to stop playing. If he hadn't noticed, the instrument could have easily been burnt to a crisp.

At hearing the outcry, Josh opened his eyes and looked over to Blurry, quickly noticing the abnormal flames coming from his hand. "We should, uh, we should probably tell Dallon." He said, moving to sit next to Blurry to calm him down in case he freaked out at the sight.

Blurry was thankful for that, but it only helped a little. How did he get rid of them? What if they couldn’t? Josh went to text Dallon, seeing as Blurry wouldn't be able to in his current situation. At least not without melting his phone.

_Just-just calm down, we can figure this out._

Blurry took a deep breath to try and follow Tyler's words, but the flames were too distracting to forget about. "Can we douse it in water or something?" He got up to head to the sink, running his hand under the cold running water. It seemed to be working, the water smothering the flame, but as soon as he pulled his hand away the flames were back. His heart was racing, and he was starting to get really worried. The flames didn’t hurt, they weren’t even hot. Not to him, anyway. But they weren’t going away.

 _Blurry do you want me to take over?_ He heard Tyler ask. Blurry couldn’t quite form a response, so he just nodded. _I’ll be right out. Don’t worry, we’ll get this under control._

Soon Tyler looked at his hand, the strange flames still dancing around his fingertips. _Th-thanks, Ty..._ he heard Blurry say.

“Josh, any word from Dallon?” he called to his best friend, staring at the fire. No smoke, no pain, but definitely flame. Josh walked over to Tyler, looking at his phone.

“He’s typing. Any luck with the water?”

“No,” Tyler shook his head. “Can you tell me if it’s even hot? Like, don’t hurt yourself, or anything, just get close and let me know.” He felt his heart slowing, trying to take this one step at a time. Dallon had said that some strange stuff was possible, so he tried not to worry, figuring Dallon would know how to deal with whatever could come up.

Josh brought his hand near the flames, testing the heat. It was a very cool heat, not quite like a candle, but it could definitely still burn. “It’s not like, super hot or anything, so I mean, that’s good.” Josh’s phone dinged, and he opened the text. “Dallon says.... He says Brendon told him that it’s Hellfire, the stuff he uses to light his..” Josh snickered. “The stuff he uses to light his blunts.”

Tyler rolled his eyes. Classic Brendon. “Anyway,” Josh continued, “Brendon says to make a fist and blow into the center and it should go out.”

“Well, that’s oddly specific, but if it works..” Tyler did as Brendon suggested, and the flames did indeed go out. He let out a sigh of relief, noting mentally that they would have to be more careful of things like this. “Does he know how it could have happened? And how did he know that would work?” Tyler saw Josh text Dallon back, and he went to sit at the desk chair. Josh wandered back to the central room and leaned against a wall, reading Dallon’s response.

"He said, 'Brendon says that's what happened the first time it happened to him, and after that first time it was a lot easier to control.'" Josh read.

"Wait, so Brendon hasn't always been a demon or something?" Tyler asked. He saw Josh text Dallon back. Tyler still was examining his hand. _I'm sorry, Tyler, I-I don't know what happened-_

 _Hey, I don't think it's anyone's fault. I think it just kind of happened on its own_. Tyler comforted Blurry. Josh's phone meowed.

"He said, 'long story, yes he has, short story, no he hasn't.' Well, that's descriptive." Josh said with a smirk. "On the plus side, Brendon's trick worked. And if it happens again, it'll probably work again." He theorized.

Tyler decided to try something. He focused his thoughts and snapped his fingers on his right hand. Suddenly, a tiny red-purple flame jumped to life from the end of his thumb. "Hey, dude, check it out!" Tyler directed excitedly to Josh, who looked up from his phone.

"Did you just do that on purpose?" He asked. Tyler nodded triumphantly and blew out the flame, after which it didn't come back. "Tyler that's sick!"

Tyler laughed. "Right? I mean I don't know what good it will do me but that's so cool!"

 _How did you do that?_ Blurry asked.

_You want to try it yourself?_

_N-no thanks. I'm... Not really fond of fire._

Tyler didn’t see the issue with the fire, now that they had it under control, but he wouldn’t force Blurry to come back out if he didn’t want to. He was sure that Blurry would warm up to the idea of it, and whatever ‘powers’ they had received as an after effect. It didn’t seem all too bad, in Tyler’s opinion. As long as Brendon could explain how he dealt with each power then they should be just fine. And Dallon had made it sound like there wouldn't be very many, given Brendon's status as a "lesser" demon or whatever it was he had called him.

After playing around with the fire, making it reappear and disappear at will, Tyler decided to go back to playing around with his ukulele, but Blurry didn’t seem too eager to play it anymore, at the moment, likely worried that he wouldn’t be able to control the fire. Or whatever other after effects start coming their way. Tyler would be better at handling this sort of stuff, he thought to himself, choosing to just relax listening to Tyler play.

From then, the day seemed to just rush by, since they were in town for the weekend and their festival show had been the previous night, and before they knew it they were heading off to sleep. Once he’d fallen asleep, Tyler went to visit the Tulpa. “You’ve been rather quiet since the fire thing happened, dude. Everything okay?”

“I guess.” Blurry shrugged in response, laying down on his bed in the hut. He was really uneasy with these whole ‘excess magic powers’, afraid of what could be coming next. What if it was something that was much harder to control than a small flame? Blurry just wanted to be able to switch with Tyler, not all this extra stuff. He was still worried that the fading of these powers would make him fade as well.

“We’ll take it as it comes. Try not to worry about something we can’t fix.” Tyler smiled a bit at Blurry to try and calm him down, but it seemed to just go over him as he turned over in bed. _He’ll come around sooner or later,_ Tyler thought to himself, trying to make the best of this ordeal. He soon drifted off to sleep, followed shortly by Blurry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for keeping up with this story!! The next chapter might be the last one, but we'll be jumping right in to posting the next story in the series after that; It's the prequel to all of this. And it's looooong. Comments and kudos make us feel so warm and fuzzy. And we'd love to know what you think about our portrayal of Blurryface, of our story/universe in general, and if there's anything you'd like to ask us, shoot us an ask on our tumblr(s)!  
> Joint tumblr: Mythomusicians  
> Jess's tumblr: Mikeyflippinway  
> Jenni's tumblr: twentyonepilotsandknuckles  
> Really though, we would love to hear feedback. Thank you all for all of the support.  
> And don't worry, we wouldn't dream of leaving you with a happy, nicely packaged and wrapped up ending....... <3  
> Also I'm 100% sure we didn't make this clear (because we weren't sure when we were writing it that this was a detail we wanted), but we're messing with reality just a little bit and I guess all of their concerts together in this fic are meant to be festivals. We'll probably go through and change some nonessential details at some point, but now that we're starting to get serious about writing the sequel to this story, we've found that timeline wise, it only makes sense if the boys aren't actually "on tour" with Panic! here.  
> Sorry for the really long note! Thank you for taking the time to read it.  
> xomythomusicians


	18. The end?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I'm so sorry we're both so sorry

Tyler awoke before Josh, which seemed to be a rather common thing in the past few months. It was at least a decent time, he’d even slept in a little while longer than usual, the duo having nothing to do now that their festival lineup ended the day previous. As he stretched out, he felt Blurry wake too, and thought to himself that maybe the Tulpa would like to eat breakfast again, for the third time this week. He and Josh could probably find an IHOP around here, after all, and Blurry’s hunger for new flavors was insatiable.

_Do you want to go have late breakfast with Josh?_

At the question, Blurry seemed interested: food and Josh, two of his favorite real world experiences. The fear of setting things on fire had been pushed to the back of his mind, Tyler helped to show him how to control it a little bit ago, and so he found it hard to resist the chance to eat more and spend more time with his best friend. After getting the go-ahead from the Tulpa, Tyler groggily stood up and went to give up control to Blurry as he went to shake his sleeping friend awake.

Blurry didn’t come out.

_Hey, something wrong?_

There was no answer from Blurry. What was up with him? He seemed eager enough to go and hang out with Josh today, why would he be ignoring him? Tyler frowned and rubbed at his eyes, trying to get the tiredness out, and when he opened his eyes again he saw that Josh was awake, looking at Tyler with what looked to be mostly fear. He blinked at the drummer in confusion, wondering what the look was for, then he felt his face pale as he noticed something completely off.

Josh didn’t look like Josh. 

Well, he did, but this was certainly not how Josh fell asleep the night before. His hair coloring was inverted, with the black on top and the red on the sides, and he was somehow wearing the stage makeup that he wore for concerts; the raccoon-esque blobs of red eyeshadow around his eyes. Most noticeable, though, was the darkened skin that looked like he had stolen some of Tyler’s black stage paint, starting from the bridge of his nose and running its way all the way down to the base of his neck. Tyler’s stomach did a backflip when he saw his friend’s eyes. For a moment, his irises were a familiar shade of red, but moments after Tyler saw them, they turned black, the pigment growing to cover the whole of the eye, whites and everything. He thought he might throw up. The voice that exited his mouth was meek, terrified, and not at all the voice he expected, but one he knew all too well.

“...Tyler?”

****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> D o n ' t h u r t u s  
> This is it, thank you, thank. you. This is the end of RtB, and for us it's been a long time coming. This isn't the end of the story, though! The sequel to this is in the works, but first we want to release the prequel, By Heaven & Hell. There won't be any tøp in it, sorry to say, as it "generally" predates them and their relationship with other bands.   
> BH&H is scheduled to release next week (the 26th of September), we're just finishing it up and finalizing it.   
> Thank you for keeping up with us, really. This means the world to me and Jess, and writing has become one of our favorite things to do since we decided on this universe. We'll definitely be releasing a lot more stories in the future, and if you have any ideas you'd like us to consider, PLEASE drop us a line either through a comment here on ao3 or in an ask on our mythomusicians tumblr!  
> We'd LOVE to hear your feedback! <3 Thank you readers! We love you! :D


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